Sunniest Places in Canada

Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan form the sun belt of Canada. The swath from Calgary, Alberta to Estevan, Saskatchewan boasts over 2375 hours of bright sunshine a year.

The amount of sun shining peaks in the southeast corner of Alberta, at Manyberries.

From 1971 to 1990, the hamlet averaged 2567 hours of sunshine a year, accounting for 55 percent of its daylight period. The sunniest month at Manyberries is July, when the sun beams down for 74 percent of the daytime.

Environment Canada closed the Manyberries weather station in the 1990s. The current data, using averages for 1981 to 2010, show that the leader for sun is Medicine Hat, Alberta. The city is located 65 km (40 miles) straight north of Manyberries and is the closest weather station that now measures sunshine. Medicine Hat typically enjoys 2544 hours of sun a year.

The tables below list the sunniest places in Canada and for each province using averages from Environment Canada's 288 weather stations that measured sunshine from 1981 to 2010. The places are ranked based on the total number of hours of bright sunshine that they normally receive a year. There are also averages for the annual number of days with any amount of measurable sunshine and for the percentage of daylight hours with bright sun.

Most Hours of Sunshine in Canada

The sunniest Canadian places bask in bright sunshine for at least half of their daylight hours. Plus they see the sun on well over 300 days a year. These are the ten sunniest places in Canada where sunshine was measured from 1981 to 2010.

Annual averages for hours, days and percent of sunshine at Canada's sunniest places.

Hours	Place	Days	% Sun
2544	Medicine Hat, Alberta	330	55
2507	Lethbridge, Alberta	333	54
2436	Suffield, Alberta	330	52
2416	Kindersley, Saskatchewan	326	52
2411	Swift Current, Saskatchewan	324	52
2404	Estevan, Saskatchewan	324	52
2396	Calgary, Alberta	333	52
2387	Brooks, Alberta	330	51
2386	Broadview, Saskatchewan	320	52
2380	Weyburn, Saskatchewan	319	51

Sunniest Places in Other Canadian Provinces and Territories

Here are the three sunniest places for each province, outside of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and for northern Canada. Again, the locations are ranked by the number of hours of bright sunshine they normally receive a year.

Average hours, days and percent of sunshine a year for the sunniest places in Canada's provinces.

Hours	Place	Days	% Sun
2359	Gimli, MB	317	51
2358	Brandon, MB	324	51
2353	Winnipeg, MB	316	51
2256	Yellowknife, NWT	277	43
2191	Cranbrook, BC	315	46
2161	Toronto, ON	308	47
2154	Mirabel, QC	306	47
2132	Ottawa, ON	300	46
2121	Thunder Bay, ON	305	46
2109	Bertrand, NB	300	46
2109	Victoria, BC	308	44
2095	Fort St. John, BC	304	44
2078	Fort Simpson, NWT	283	41
2058	La Pocatiere, QC	300	45
2057	Eureka, NU	188	40
2051	Montreal, QC	305	44
2028	Charlo, NB	293	44
2020	St Leonard, NB	298	44
1962	Shearwater, NS	290	43
1915	Farmington, NS	266	42
1898	Yarmouth, NS	288	41
1890	Summerside, PEI	291	41
1841	Charlottetown, PEI	286	40
1806	Tignish, PEI	292	39
1759	La Scie, NL	274	39
1721	Wabush Lake, NL	290	37
1683	Churchill Falls, NL	284	37