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Our Islands
Climate & Weather
The climate of the Islands is strongly influenced by the maritime conditions of their location and the prevailing westerly winds.
Winters are mild and summers cool with little temperature variance between them.
A North Pacific High Pressure system dominates weather along the BC Coast and provides dry, sunny conditions on the Islands between mid-May through mid-September although precipitation is common throughout the year.
During the winter months a Low Pressure system dominates the weather. This Low Pressure system causes a succession of storms providing heavy precipitation and strong winds.
August is the warmest month on the Islands, although May gets more hours of sunshine. January is the coldest month, but also provides the best opportunities for storm watching.
Storms moving west over the islands are forced to rise and drop much of their precipitation as they cross the Queen Charlotte mountain range which runs north/south along the west coast of the Islands. These mountains shield the Islands east coast from much of the precipitation and makes the east coast of the Islands considerably drier than the west coast. Annual precipitation of the Islands east Coast is ~52 inches compared with ~168 found along the Islands west coast.
The Queen Charlotte Islands, along with coastal BC have a higher mean temperature during the winter than any other part of Canada and annual snowfall is less than 30 inches, although winter precipitation is heavy.
Due to their Northerly latitude, summer on the Islands is characterized by long days with as little as 6 hours of darkness in June and July. Winter days on the other hand can offer as much as 17 hours of darkness, but under the clear skies one can often catch glimpses of the Northern Lights.
Cape St James, located at the southern tip of the Islands is one of the windiest weather stations in Canada and has recorded the strongest winds in Canada. Southeast winds are strongest in all months except for July when Northwest winds are strongest.
What Visitors should expect: Visitors should be prepared for comfortable temperatures and some rain regardless of the time of year they visit. Precipitation is generally short lived and a common local saying is if you don’t like the weather to wait 10 minutes!
This is quite true and illustrates the strong influence of the prevailing winds, continually blowing different weather systems across the Islands. It is not until crossing Hecate Straight that these systems join as they back-up against the Coastal Mountains near Prince Rupert and the Skeena River.
Summer to winter temperatures vary little and the temperatures along the coast rarely drops below freezing. Summer temperatures are considered “hot” in the mid-twenties and winter temperatures are considered “cold” at 5 degrees Celsius.
