Traditionally, winter had brought very cold winters with lots of snow. However, since the filling of Williston Lake, the largest man-made lake in North America, the winters have been milder with an average January temperature of -15 °C (5 °F) and annual snowfall of 194 cm (76 in).[3] The municipality experiences an average growing season of 135 days, the longest in northern BC, with an average July temperature of 15 °C (59 °F).[3] With the dams, both the lakes and the river have remained ice-free and isothermal at about 2 to 10 °C (35 to 50 °F).