Climate averages 1991–2020
Ottawa weather
in March.
A cold, moderately wet month: the 9th warmest and the joint 2nd driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
March is a cold month in Ottawa: daytime highs average 2.5°C and nights cool to about -7.0°C. By daytime temperature it is the 9th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 73 mm of rain on roughly 10 days, which makes March a moderately wet month (the joint 2nd driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 11 h 53 min on an average March day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Gatineau (7 km away). In March its highs average 2.5°C, about as warm as Ottawa, with 73 mm of rain.
Among the 86 cities listed in Canada, Ottawa ranks joint 54th of 86 for the warmest March highs and joint 49th of 86 for the driest March (rainfall, lowest first). The mean March high of those 86 cities is 3.8°C; Ottawa is 1.3°C cooler than that mean.
From March to April, average highs rise by 8.2°C to 10.7°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 73 mm to 90 mm.
The annual picture
March in context
Monthly precipitation
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
Ottawa climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Precipitation mm/month | Wet days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | -5.0°C-14.2°C | -14.2°C | 73 | 10.5 | 9.29 h |
| February | -3.3°C-12.9°C | -12.9°C | 58 | 8.8 | 10.410 h |
| March, selected | 2.5°C-7.0°C | -7.0°C | 73 | 9.9 | 11.912 h |
| April | 10.7°C0.6°C | 0.6°C | 90 | 11.1 | 13.513 h |
| May | 18.6°C7.9°C | 7.9°C | 88 | 11.2 | 14.915 h |
| June | 23.4°C13.5°C | 13.5°C | 99 | 11.6 | 15.616 h |
| July | 25.8°C16.5°C | 16.5°C | 98 | 12.4 | 15.315 h |
| August | 24.6°C16.0°C | 16.0°C | 90 | 11.1 | 14.114 h |
| September | 20.4°C12.0°C | 12.0°C | 95 | 10.3 | 12.613 h |
| October | 12.8°C5.6°C | 5.6°C | 99 | 12.2 | 11.011 h |
| November | 5.5°C-0.8°C | -0.8°C | 83 | 11.4 | 9.610 h |
| December | -1.1°C-7.9°C | -7.9°C | 79 | 11.5 | 8.89 h |
Precipitation (rain or snow, as water) is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A wet 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
March in nearby cities
- Gatineau in MarchCanada · 7 kmHigh 2.5°C · Low -7.2°C · 73 mm rain
- Gloucester, Canada in MarchCanada · 8 kmHigh 2.5°C · Low -7.4°C · 71 mm rain
- Nepean in MarchCanada · 9 kmHigh 2.7°C · Low -7.5°C · 71 mm rain
- Orléans, Canada in MarchCanada · 16 kmHigh 1.9°C · Low -7.3°C · 73 mm precipitation
- Kanata in MarchCanada · 21 kmHigh 2.7°C · Low -7.6°C · 69 mm rain
- Pierrefonds-Roxboro in MarchCanada · 145 kmHigh 1.9°C · Low -6.3°C · 73 mm precipitation
- Kingston, Canada in MarchCanada · 145 kmHigh 2.3°C · Low -4.8°C · 73 mm rain
- Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne in MarchCanada · 152 kmHigh 2.1°C · Low -7.5°C · 74 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 Ottawa) is explained once on the Ottawa year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Gatineau lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.