Climate averages 1991–2020
Nanaimo weather
in January.
A cold, very wet month: the 11th warmest and the 11th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a cold month in Nanaimo: daytime highs average 5.9°C and nights cool to about 2.0°C. By daytime temperature it is the 11th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 253 mm of rain on roughly 19 days, which makes January a very wet month (the 11th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 8 h 43 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Vancouver (60 km away). In January its highs average 5.4°C, about as warm as Nanaimo, with 316 mm of rain.
Among the 86 cities listed in Canada, Nanaimo ranks 3rd of 86 for the warmest January highs and 78th of 86 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 86 cities is -2.3°C; Nanaimo is 8.2°C warmer than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 1.1°C to 6.9°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 253 mm to 150 mm.
The annual picture
January in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Nanaimo climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 5.9°C2.0°C | 2.0°C | 253 | 18.5 | 8.79 h |
| February | 6.9°C2.2°C | 2.2°C | 150 | 14.8 | 10.110 h |
| March | 8.9°C3.5°C | 3.5°C | 178 | 17.6 | 11.912 h |
| April | 11.9°C5.8°C | 5.8°C | 123 | 15.2 | 13.714 h |
| May | 16.1°C9.5°C | 9.5°C | 85 | 12.1 | 15.315 h |
| June | 18.8°C12.4°C | 12.4°C | 69 | 10.6 | 16.116 h |
| July | 22.1°C15.1°C | 15.1°C | 43 | 7.3 | 15.816 h |
| August | 22.3°C15.3°C | 15.3°C | 54 | 6.3 | 14.414 h |
| September | 18.8°C12.5°C | 12.5°C | 86 | 9.3 | 12.713 h |
| October | 13.1°C8.2°C | 8.2°C | 177 | 15.2 | 10.811 h |
| November | 8.4°C4.4°C | 4.4°C | 264 | 18.7 | 9.29 h |
| December | 5.6°C2.0°C | 2.0°C | 247 | 18.6 | 8.38 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
January in nearby cities
- Vancouver in JanuaryCanada · 60 kmHigh 5.4°C · Low 1.1°C · 316 mm rain
- Delta in JanuaryCanada · 65 kmHigh 6.1°C · Low 1.4°C · 209 mm rain
- North Vancouver in JanuaryCanada · 65 kmHigh 5.4°C · Low 1.0°C · 316 mm rain
- Burnaby in JanuaryCanada · 73 kmHigh 5.4°C · Low 0.7°C · 316 mm rain
- New Westminster in JanuaryCanada · 75 kmHigh 5.0°C · Low -0.5°C · 316 mm rain
- Surrey in JanuaryCanada · 81 kmHigh 5.3°C · Low -0.2°C · 226 mm rain
- Coquitlam in JanuaryCanada · 85 kmHigh 5.2°C · Low 0.2°C · 343 mm rain
- Victoria in JanuaryCanada · 92 kmHigh 6.4°C · Low 3.0°C · 146 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Nanaimo) is explained once on the Nanaimo year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.