Climate of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia's cold winters and warm summers are modified and generally moderated by ocean influences.

They show Yarmouth, Halifax, Sydney, and Kentville representing the southwestern, Annapolis Valley, central, and northeastern extremes, respectively.

Although Nova Scotia has a somewhat moderated climate, there have been some very intense heatwaves and cold snaps recorded over the past 160 years.

The highest temperature ever recorded in the Mainland of the province was 38.3 °C (101 °F) on August 19, 1935, at Collegeville,[5] which is located about 15 km southwest of Antigonish, at the old Ashdale Schoolhouse now owned by William Wallace..

[15] All of Nova Scotia has precipitation well distributed around the year, with a slight summer maximum in some northern/interior areas, but a slight autumn to early winter (October to January) maximum in southern and coastal areas, where July or August is the driest month on average.

Autumn and winter storms, arriving in or near Nova Scotia from the U.S. Northeast (often referred to as "nor'easters" because of the intense north east winds they carry), can attain tremendous intensity across coastal areas, resulting in high winds, heavy rain, ice or snow and sometimes all of the above in a single storm.

Even where a storm retains much of its strength, as with Hurricane Arthur, it is most often extratropical by the time it makes landfall on Nova Scotia.

In 2023, severe thunderstorms occurred in July[19] and October, the latter causing relatively large hail in the Halifax area.

The tornado in Pugwash was an F0, and ripped the dining room from a restaurant, the one in White Point was an F1, damaging cabins, snapping trees, and destroying a barn.