Weather in Tofino in March

The month to avoid. Of the twelve, March is the one to avoid. You should expect rain on 21 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

March ranks 9 of 12 in Tofino: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 21 of the month's 31 days, 8 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 8.7 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 3.5 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 18.1 °C and the coldest night fell to -0.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 66 mm — roughly 31% of the month's rain in one day.

March is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest March on record still delivered 315 mm against 67 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 213 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 10.3 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 86%, which at 8.7 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How March sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 7.8 °C in February, 8.7 here, 10.8 in April. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in March

11.8 hours of daylight, gaining 1.8 hours across the month. That is between Tofino's extremes of 16.2 and 8.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 8.4 °C in March — too cold to swim without a wetsuit. The sea peaks at 14.4 °C in August and bottoms out at 8.4 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

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

March in Tofino versus nearby

If Tofino is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Nanaimo is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days less rain. Vancouver is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain.

So: March is a compromise. July is 50 points better and is what Tofino is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Tofino

See all twelve months in Tofino, or where else to go in March.