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Home Sahand Why Canada? Land and Weather

Land and Weather

An enormous landmass

Canada is a huge country. It has a total land area of 9,984,670 square kilometres, making it the second largest country in the world.

The longest distance north to south (on land) is 4,634 km, from the northern tip of Nunavut to the southern tip of Ontario. The longest distance east to west is 5,514 km from the eastern tip of Newfoundland and Labrador to the western tip of the Yukon Territory where it borders with Alaska.

To help you understand Canada’s size, consider this: it takes seven days to drive from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver, British Columbia. To fly from Halifax to Vancouver takes seven hours. More proof of this country’s size: Canada has six separate time zones—Newfoundland, Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific.

Canadian provinces and territories

Canada is made up of 10 provinces and three territories. It can be divided into five regional areas:

The East, also called the Atlantic region, includes the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The Central region includes the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

The Prairies includes Manitoba, Saskatchewan and some parts of Alberta.

The West includes most of Alberta and British Columbia.

The North is made up of the three territories—Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

Each province and territory has its own capital city where the provincial or territorial government is located.

Home to natural resources

Canada’s forests, its wildlife, protected areas and water are well known around the world. Canada has more than 71,500 known species of plants and wild animals. It contains 20 percent of the world’s remaining wilderness and 10 percent of the world’s forests. Canada has seven percent of the world’s renewable freshwater supply and 25 percent of the world's wetlands. Canada also has the longest coastline in the world.

Seasons in Canadacanada_four_seasons

In Canada, there are four seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn (fall).
In winter, the days are short and can be quite cold. When outdoors, people wear mittens or gloves, scarves, hats, warm coats and insulated boots. In summer, the days are long and are usually warm.

You may want to consider differences in weather when choosing a place to live.

Variable weather

The weather varies across Canada. While northern areas and areas far from large bodies of water can be very cold in winter, some regions—particularly the southern coastal regions—have milder weather. Temperatures in these areas can range from minus 10° to 5° Celsius in the winter and 10°C to 30°C in the summer. In southern coastal regions, there is more rain than snow during winter.

Some parts of Canada—such as the west coast in winter and central areas in summer—are humid. Other parts, such as the Prairies, are very dry.

Many factors influence weather, such as distance from the ocean, latitude, elevation and wind.

Spring—March to May
Summer—June to August/September
Autumn—September to November
Winter—December to February or later

(Photo by Todd Pearson/Getty Images)