About Canada : Geography, Seasons and Provinces
Canada is the second largest country on earth, covering an area of 10 million square kilometres (3.9 million square miles). Three oceans border Canada: the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Altogether, Canada has over 200,000 kilometres (125,000 miles) of coastline. Canada shares two borders with the United States: a very long border in the south and another long frontier in the northwest.
Due to its large size, Canada has many different types of landscape. There are areas with high mountains, different types of forests, prairie grasslands and arctic tundra where the ground is permanently frozen. Canada is also home to many rivers and lakes.
Like Canada’s landscapes, the climate varies across the country. In the areas where most of the population lives, there are generally four distinct seasons – summer, fall, winter and spring.
- Summer lasts from around June to September and the weather varies from warm to hot, with daytime temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius or Centigrade (68 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher. In southern Ontario and Quebec it can often be very humid.
- Fall and spring are transition seasons during which the weather becomes progressively colder or warmer and much of the annual rainfall occurs.
- Winter is very cold in most places, with temperatures often well below zero degrees Celsius or Centigrade (32 degrees Fahrenheit). Snow covers the ground from around December to March or April. An exception is southwest British Columbia (including the cities of Victoria and Vancouver) where winter temperatures generally remain above zero degrees and rain is more common than snow.
Canada’s provinces and territories
Learn more about Canada’s provinces and territories, including services to help you settle and resources :-
