Pincher Creek is a weather station located 1190 m above sea level, 5 km from Pincher Creek. Its records go back to 1894: 116 years of temperature are available up to 2020, along with rainfall and a comparison with two reference normals. Closed series: the records of this station end in 2020. Over 1991–2020 the annual mean temperature there is 5.0 °C, noticeably higher than over 1961–1990 (4.4 °C): a difference of 0.5 °C. The warmest year of the series is 1931 (7.4 °C) and the coldest 1951 (0.9 °C). The last complete year, 2020, ranks 35 out of 116, from warmest to coldest. Over 1961–2020, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.17 °C per decade. The station ranks 204 out of 240 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1894
The first ten years of the series (1894–1909) average 3.7 °C; the last ten (2011–2020) average 4.8 °C, a difference of +1.1 °C. Of the ten warmest years in the series, 2 fall after 1999. The warmest is 1931 (7.4 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 5.4 °C (1992) and bottoms out at 2.9 °C (1955).
Annual rainfall since 1894
On average 630 mm of rain falls per year over the 93 documented years. The wettest year, 1951, received 1295 mm; the driest, 1952, only 303 mm, which is 4.3 times less. The 1991–2020 normal (737 mm per year) is 118 mm (19.1 %) above the 1961–1990 one (619 mm). Over 1991–2020, June is on average the wettest month (132 mm) and January the driest (34 mm). Between 1991 and 2011, 12 years out of 20 exceeded the series average.
Monthly normals: 1961–1990 against 1991–2020
The table compares, month by month, the mean temperature and the rainfall total of two thirty-year reference periods. The difference column shows what the recent period changes compared with the earlier one.
| Month | Temp. 1961–1990 | Temp. 1991–2020 | Difference | Rain 1961–1990 | Rain 1991–2020 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −8.2 °C | −5.3 °C | +2.9 °C | 42 mm | 34 mm | −8 mm |
| February | −4.9 °C | −4.7 °C | +0.2 °C | 33 mm | 41 mm | +8 mm |
| March | −1.7 °C | −1.1 °C | +0.6 °C | 40 mm | 51 mm | +11 mm |
| April | 3.8 °C | 4.2 °C | +0.4 °C | 58 mm | 68 mm | +10 mm |
| May | 9.1 °C | 9.2 °C | +0.1 °C | 79 mm | 110 mm | +31 mm |
| June | 13.6 °C | 13.1 °C | −0.5 °C | 87 mm | 132 mm | +45 mm |
| July | 16.5 °C | 16.6 °C | +0.1 °C | 51 mm | 58 mm | +7 mm |
| August | 16.0 °C | 16.3 °C | +0.3 °C | 54 mm | 49 mm | −5 mm |
| September | 11.0 °C | 11.8 °C | +0.8 °C | 59 mm | 59 mm | 0 mm |
| October | 6.3 °C | 5.5 °C | −0.8 °C | 34 mm | 50 mm | +16 mm |
| November | −1.7 °C | −0.9 °C | +0.8 °C | 41 mm | 48 mm | +7 mm |
| December | −6.7 °C | −5.1 °C | +1.6 °C | 41 mm | 37 mm | −4 mm |
The largest temperature change is in January (+2.9 °C) and the smallest in October (−0.8 °C); over the year the mean difference is +0.5 °C, and 10 months out of twelve are warmer than before. For rainfall, the largest difference is in June (+45 mm) and the smallest in January (−8 mm).
Records at Pincher Creek
- Warmest year: 7.4 °C, in 1931
- Coldest year: 0.9 °C, in 1951
- Driest year: 303 mm, in 1952
- Wettest year: 1295 mm, in 1951
- Warmest month: 20.6 °C, in July 2007
- Coldest month: −26.5 °C, in January 1950
- Wettest month: 366 mm, in June 2005
6.5 °C separate the warmest year of the series from the coldest. Daily records are not part of the dataset for this station: only annual and monthly extremes are shown.
Temperature trend over 1961–2020
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.17 °C per decade between 1961 and 2020, about +1.0 °C over the whole period. That is slower than the median of the 240 stations (+0.25 °C per decade), by 0.08 °C per decade: the station ranks 204 out of 240.
Data source and licence
Data source: Environment and Climate Change Canada (dataset “AHCCD (ahccd-monthly) + climate-daily”), licence Open Government Licence – Canada. Last updated: 29 October 2026.
The data for Pincher Creek are shown as the source publishes them; this site does not correct them. A year is kept only if at least eleven months of measurements are available, and a normal is computed only with at least twenty years of data out of its thirty. Temperatures are rounded to 0.1 °C and rainfall to the millimetre. The station is one of 240 stations in Canada: the overview page lets you compare them.
Frequently asked questions
What is the annual mean temperature at Pincher Creek?
Over 1991–2020, the annual mean temperature at Pincher Creek is 5.0 °C. It was 4.4 °C over 1961–1990, a difference of +0.5 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Pincher Creek?
Since records began in 1894, the warmest year at Pincher Creek is 1931, at 7.4 °C on average. The coldest is 1951 (0.9 °C).
Is the climate at Pincher Creek getting warmer?
Yes: at Pincher Creek, the annual mean temperature rises by 0.17 °C per decade between 1961 and 2020, +1.0 °C in total. 2 of the 10 warmest years in the series fall after 1999.
Towns near this station
Neighbouring stations