Weather in Ottawa in July

A good month. July is a solid month to be in Ottawa. You should expect rain on 16 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

July ranks 5 of 12 in Ottawa: past the worst of the year but short of September, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 16 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

The averages here are honest — no hidden extremes worth planning around. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest July day reached 36.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 8.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 56 mm — roughly 57% of the month's rain in one day.

July is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest July on record still delivered 202 mm against 45 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 98 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 1 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 79%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How July sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 23.3 °C in June, 26 here, 25.4 in August. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in July

July is at or near the longest days of Ottawa's year: 15.4 hours of daylight, losing 0.8 hours across the month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

An inland climate

Ottawa has no sea to moderate it, and it shows: 42.4 °C separates the hottest afternoon of the year from the coldest night. That is a genuinely continental range, and it means summer and winter here are barely the same place.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

July in Ottawa versus nearby

If Ottawa is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Kingston is close enough to be a coin toss — 2 °C cooler, the same number of rain days. Montréal is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain.

So: July works, with September the better month by 7 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Ottawa

See all twelve months in Ottawa, or where else to go in July.