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Climate · Ottawa

Ottawa in May

Mild and damp, as the days lengthen.

Typical weather, averaged over 30 years

May in Ottawa is mild: highs near 68°F, lows near 46°F. Rain falls on about three days a week, and the days lengthen by 1 hour 3 minutes from the first week to the last.May in Ottawa is mild: highs near 20°C, lows near 8°C. Rain falls on about three days a week, and the days lengthen by 1 hour 3 minutes from the first week to the last.

High
68°F20°Caverage
Low
46°F8°Caverage
Wet days
3a week · 38% of days
Daylight
14h 53mon average

Is May a good time to visit Ottawa?

A good month, just outside Ottawa's best months, which run in two parts: June, or August to September.

How we judge it: every month is scored on how close its typical high comes to the range from 70°F to 80°F, how mild its nights are, and how rarely it rains. The best months are the run of months that scores best.How we judge it: every month is scored on how close its typical high comes to the range from 21°C to 27°C, how mild its nights are, and how rarely it rains. The best months are the run of months that scores best.

How May sits in the year

week by week

Temperature

Highs near 68°F in May, against 28°F to 82°F through the year.Highs near 20°C in May, against -2°C to 28°C through the year.

Chance of a wet day

38% of days in May, against 32% to 43% through the year.

Cloud cover

56% cover in May, against 42% to 70% through the year.

Daylight

14h 53m in May, against 8h 46m to 15h 36m through the year.

Week by week, lightly smoothed, with May shaded. The olive line marks the best months. Hover or tap a week for its figures.

Either side

  1. April54°12°low 33°low 1°3 wet days a weekRain on about three days a week.
  2. May68°20°low 46°low 8°3 wet days a weekRain on about three days a week.
  3. June78°26°low 57°low 14°3 wet days a weekRain on about three days a week.

Where Ottawa sits, in May

America/Toronto
this place
typical high in May 40°F4°C95°F35°C
Sunrise, mid-May
5:33 AMsets 8:24 PM
Above the sea
70 mlow-lying
Latitude
45.4°Nnorthern hemisphere
Nearest of ours
Mont-Tremblant115 km north-east

The land around Ottawa, shaded by its typical high in May, the planning map's own layer. Hover the map for the figure at that spot; tap it on a phone. Clock times are local, for the 15th.

Elsewhere in Canada in May

high · low · wet days
See May on the planning mapThe whole year in Ottawa

Typical weather, averaged over 30 years (1995–2024), from the 11 km grid square nearest Ottawa. Temperatures are adjusted against 66 weather stations: daytime highs read about 3.1°F cold in the source data and are raised to match.Temperatures are adjusted against 66 weather stations: daytime highs read about 1.7°C cold in the source data and are raised to match. Daylight is calculated from latitude. Charts are lightly smoothed week to week; the figures in the table are not. Source: Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis; cloud cover from NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis, on a coarser grid of about 50 km. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026; neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use of it. These are averages, not a forecast.

Daylight is calculated from latitude. Charts are lightly smoothed week to week; the figures in the table are not.

Source: Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis; cloud cover from NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis, on a coarser grid of about 50 km. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026; neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use of it. These are averages, not a forecast.