CANBY, MN

Overview:
Canby, Minnesota is a city in Yellow Medicine County in the southwest corner of the state. Canby Creek, a tributary of the Lac qui Parle River, flows through the city. The city lies on the northern edge of Buffalo Ridge, an expanse of rolling hills on the eastern edge of the Coteau des Prairies. The Coteau des Prairies, a plateau extending from eastern South Dakota to southwestern Minnesota, plays a significant role in the regional climate. Winds blowing down the slope of the plateau compress and warm the air, leading to warmer temperatures than other surrounding regions, even areas farther north.

The climate in Canby and much of southwestern Minnesota is characterized by hot and humid summers and cold and snowy winters, with significant swings in temperature between seasons. Precipitation falls primarily as rain during the summer months, with thunderstorms a frequent occurrence. Average annual snowfall tops 45 inches though is not as heavy as in more northern parts of the state.

State/ Province ID: MN

Station ID: C00211263

Directory Name: CANBY__MN_C00211263

Elevation: 368.80m

The resources presented here were developed in cooperation with the Office of the Michigan State Climatologist using data from the National Centers for Environmental Information. For more information regarding our data sources, quality control, and methodology, please see our Historical Climatologies: Quality Control reference guide.

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Recent Climate Summary, 1991-2020

Average Temperature45.4°F7.5°C
Average Low Temperature35.1°F1.7°C
Average High Temperature55.7°13.2°C
Days/Year that exceed 90°F12.6 
Days/Year that fall below 32°F154.3 
Lowest Annual Average Temperature41.8°F5.4°C
Highest Annual Average Temperature48.3°F9.1°C
Average Annual Total Precipitation27.7 in70.2 cm
Lowest Annual Precipitation Total18.8 in47.7 cm
Highest Annual Precipitation Total39.7 in101.0 cm
Days/Year that exceed 1.25" of Precipitation3.9 

Temperature

Click on the following links to be taken to the corresponding portion of the page.

  • Monthly Average Temperature
  • How Temperatures are Changing
    • Changes in Average Temperature – Includes a summary table of the average annual and seasonal temperature changes, and time series graphs of how the annual low, average, and high temperatures compare to the long term average plotted for every year on record.
    • Cold Temperatures – View time series plots of the number of days per year below 32°F and the number of heating degree days per year to see how cold days are changing.
    • Hot Temperatures – View time series plots of the number of days per year above 90°F and the number of cooling degree days per year to see how hot days are changing.
    • Growing Season Changes – View a time series of the annual number of days in the freeze-free period.

Monthly Average Temperature

Changes in Average Temperature, 1951-2025.

 °F°C
Annual average temperature0.40.2
Winter average temperature2.11.2
Spring average temperature-0.2-0.1
Summer average temperature-1.2-0.6
Fall average temperature0.50.3

Annual High and Low Temperature Departure

Cold Temperatures

¹Heating Degree Days (HDDs) are indexed units, not actual days, that roughly describe the demand to heat a building. HDDs accumulate on days colder than 65°F when heating is required. Every degree below 65°F is added to the annual total for an annual HDD value, which is plotted in the figure.

Hot Temperatures

²Cooling Degree Days (CDDs) are indexed units, not actual days, that roughly describe the demand to cool a building. CDDs accumulate on days warmer than 65°F when cooling is required. Every degree above 65°F is added to the annual total for an annual CDD value, which is plotted in the figure.

Growing Season Changes

Precipitation

Click on the following links to be taken to the corresponding portion of the page.

  • Monthly Average Precipitation – View a graph of the monthly low, average, and high precipitation climatology (average) of the past 30 years
  • How Precipitation is Changing
    • Changes in Total Precipitation – Includes a summary table of the average annual and seasonal precipitation changes.
    • Heavy Precipitation – View a bar chart of how annual number of days receiving more than 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, and 2 inches of precipitation are changing over the period of record.

Monthly Average Precipitation

Changes in Average Precipitation, 1951-2025.

 in.cm.%
Annual total precipitation4.010.316.10
Winter total precipitation0.81.932.40
Spring total precipitation1.22.916.40
Summer total precipitation0.30.72.70
Fall total precipitation2.56.453.20

Heavy Precipitation