Best time to visit St. John's

St. John's is a city of two halves. August scores 65 and January scores 10 — a 55-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. The good window runs July to September — 3 months within ten points of the best.

August is the warmest month at 17.4 °C and February the coolest at -0.6 °C — a 18 °C spread across the year. It never reaches 30 °C in an average year, which takes heat off the list of reasons to avoid any particular month. At the other end, 128 nights a year fall below freezing: the winter here is a real one.

There is a real wet season here. December carries the rain — up to 20 wet days in a month — while August to September drop as low as 14. That 6-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in St. John's, and it moves further than the temperature does.

The sea peaks at just 14.2 °C, which is wetsuit territory even at its warmest — a coast to look at rather than swim in. Daylight runs from 8.5 hours in winter to 15.9 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are August, July, September. The one to think twice about is January. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight, sea temperature and crowd levels.

St. John's month by month