Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier International Airport

CYOW · Ontario, Canada

Climate Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier International Airport 2020-2024

Climate and trends: average temperature, flight conditions, precipitation, wind speed and direction.

Calculated from historical METAR data of Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (CYOW) between 2020 and 2024.

VFR conditions (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 56.3 45 38 72 58 61
February 71.9 76 67 79 71 72
March 73.3 66 70 88 70
April 76.4 81 77 88 85
May 83.7 87 83 91 89
June 84.6 74 82 91 95
July 88.9 78 94 86 92
August 84.6 76 79 87 84
September 86.0 87 75 91 87
October 76.9 75 89 66 82
November 74.7 75 76 84 85
December 60.4 37 65 61 57
Average 75.8 60.7 71.2 79.2 81.6 81.3

65th best VFR conditions of Canada

VFR conditions during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the VFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 5 mi or more and a ceiling of 3,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Marginal VFR conditions (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 79.0 77 67 80 84 79
February 85.5 96 85 87 86 82
March 84.5 78 83 95 85
April 89.0 92 86 95 95
May 93.6 96 93 98 98
June 94.5 88 95 97 98
July 95.9 88 98 99 96
August 94.0 92 93 94 94
September 94.9 97 90 97 97
October 89.6 93 98 82 90
November 89.9 90 92 93 93
December 77.6 60 80 77 81
Average 89.3 86.2 86.3 90.0 92.3 91.4

Marginal VFR conditions or better during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the MVFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 3⅛ mi or more and a ceiling of 1,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Maximum temperatures (°C)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January -5.8 -3 -2 -8 -4 -2
February -2.4 2 -2 -3 -4 -2
March 2.5 3 3 6 4
April 11.3 14 12 14 10
May 19.5 20 22 20 19
June 24.4 25 24 27 25
July 27.5 27 27 25 30
August 25.5 24 26 28 25
September 21.5 23 20 21 20
October 14.4 16 16 16 13
November 5.1 5 8 6 9
December -1.0 1 1 1 0
Average 10.6 -1.4 12.8 12.6 13.0 12.5

Average highest temperature per day

The maximum temperature is typically observed some hours after noon.

Minimum temperatures (°C)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January -12.4 -9 -8 -19 -10 -9
February -11.3 -7 -11 -14 -13 -11
March -6.2 -5 -6 -6 -3
April 1.3 3 1 3 0
May 7.8 7 9 8 7
June 13.3 14 13 15 14
July 16.4 17 16 15 18
August 15.3 14 16 17 15
September 11.1 12 11 12 10
October 5.5 8 4 8 4
November -3.6 -3 0 -2 0
December -8.2 -4 -5 -7 -6
Average 1.4 -8.0 3.6 2.6 3.4 3.2

Average lowest temperature per day

The minimum temperature is typically observed just before sunrise.

Precipitation (%)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 29.6 31 43 19 22 25
February 25.2 11 33 28 26 25
March 22.7 30 28 13 21
April 19.2 17 20 12 17
May 11.2 12 10 7 4
June 10.0 9 17 7 4
July 6.0 6 8 7 5
August 6.6 6 12 3 12
September 7.1 3 10 9 9
October 16.1 21 9 16 19
November 17.8 13 11 14 16
December 27.8 37 26 20 27
Average 16.3 20.9 17.7 15.8 11.8 14.2

Precipitation during daylight period

Percentage of observations with observed rain, drizzle, snow or hail. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Wind speed (knots)

Month Average 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 8.6 9 8 8 9 9
February 9.2 8 9 11 8 10
March 10.0 10 10 11 9
April 10.2 10 10 10 10
May 8.7 9 8 9 10
June 8.2 8 8 9 8
July 7.5 7 8 7 8
August 7.2 8 7 7 7
September 7.2 6 8 8 8
October 8.3 8 8 8 8
November 9.2 9 9 8 10
December 8.6 8 10 9 9
Average 8.5 8.4 8.2 8.6 8.4 8.6

Average wind speed

Excluding wind gusts. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Prevailing wind direction

Month 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
January 289° 326° 311° 306° 286°
February 267° 322° 276° 280° 266°
March 310° 267° 267° 348°
April 141° 316° 309° 302°
May 313° 175° 285° 280°
June 035° 260° 237° 249°
July 241° 248° 318° 271°
August 285° 256° 245° 286°
September 289° 300° 262° 229°
October 248° 206° 039° 251°
November 245° 247° 259° 238°
December 349° 316° 273° 277°

Prevailing wind direction

Average wind direction, weighed by wind speed. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.