Yarmouth, officially named the Municipality of the District of Yarmouth, is a district municipality in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Statistics Canada classifies the district municipality as a municipal district.
The district municipality forms the western part of Yarmouth County. It is one of three municipal units in the county, the other two being the Town of Yarmouth and the Municipality of the District of Argyle.
In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, the Municipality of the District of Yarmouth had a population of 10,067 living in 4,430 of its 5,072 total private dwellings, a change of 2.3% from its 2016 population of 9,845. With a land area of 584.69 km2 (225.75 sq mi), it had a population density of 17.2/km2 (44.6/sq mi) in 2021.[2]
Communities include:
Climate data is from Yarmouth Airport which is located 15 km (9.3 mi) south of the geographical coordinates of the municipality.
Yarmouth has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb), closely bordering on an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), typical of climates surrounded by the sea but close to large continents such as southern Norway and coastal Hokkaido but with latitude variations. Being near the -3 °C isotherm in the average of the coldest month (east of the city), causing that in peninsular areas like Yarmouth Bar and Cape Forchu are between a transition band for the oceanic climates (Cfb).[5][6] Winters are cool and rainy with a January average of −2.6 °C (27.3 °F) though owing to strong maritime influences, temperatures below −20 °C (−4 °F) are very rare, and the average high never drops to below freezing at any point in the year.[7][8] During this period of time, the weather can be unsettled and cloudy due to the Nor'easters coming up the coast from the southwest.[8] As a result, Yarmouth averages only 68–100 hours of sunshine from December to February or 25%–34% of possible sunshine.[7] The average annual snowfall is 204.7 cm (80.6 in), which can come from Nor'easters from the southwest with a maximum snow depth of 9 cm (3.5 in) in January, owing to its mild winters, among the mildest in Canada east of the Rockies.[8][7]
Yarmouth's summers are cool due to the strong coastal influence from the sea which keeps summer temperatures cool, meaning temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) are very rare.[8] The average temperature in the warmest month, August is 17.5 °C (63.5 °F). Spring and fall are transitional seasons in which falls are warmer than spring since the waters are at the warmest temperatures in fall and the coldest during early spring.[8] Precipitation is significant, averaging 1,290.1 mm (50.79 in) a year, with July and August the driest months on average and November the wettest month on average. An outstanding feature is Yarmouth's late-fall to early-winter precipitation maximum, owing to the combination of intense storm activity from November to January and relatively more-stable summers, with thunderstorm activity here much less frequent than in the U.S. Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and points southward. Yarmouth averages 1,898.3 hours of sunshine or 41.2% of possible sunshine with summer being the sunniest and winter being the cloudiest.[9] Yarmouth averages 191 days of fog each year.[10]
The highest temperature ever recorded in Yarmouth was 32.5 °C (90.5 °F) on July 16, 2013.[7] The coldest temperature ever recorded was −24.4 °C (−11.9 °F) on February 14, 1894.[11]