Wakkanai has a
humid continental climate (
Köppen:
Dfb) typical of
Hokkaido but with strong influence of the ocean as island portions near the great land masses (such as the smaller islands of
Nova Scotia), with cold winters, warm summers and generally heavy precipitation from the
Aleutian Low, whose winds hit the city direct from the Sea of Japan but with strong oceanic influence (46 °F). The winter is cold enough not to fall in a
maritime climate (
Cfb) and the summers although very mild for typical climate is warm enough not to fall into a
subarctic climate (
Dfc), both in the
classification of Koppen. The mean annual temperature, at , is the second lowest for a significant population centre in Japan after
Nemuro. Snowfall at , the third highest for a big city in
Japan after
Asahikawa and
Aomori and one of the highest anywhere in the world. For comparison,
Nain in Canada receives of snow. The Aleutian Low also makes the sunshine hours the lowest of Japan's major population centres and in the winter the wind speeds are the highest in Japan with an average of , which adds to the cold of a typical winter day. The highest temperature ever recorded in Wakkanai was on 29 July 2021. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 30 January 1944. in Wakkanai also written in
Russian for the
Russian minorities Demographics Per Japanese census data, the population of Wakkanai is as shown below. As of today, most of Wakkanai's residents are
ethnic Japanese and can speak
Japanese. However, smaller fractions of them tend to have
Russian ancestry, due to the
proximity between Wakkanai and Russia, who can speak
Russian depending on how well Russian is taught in different households. Additionally, in even smaller numbers, there are also
Ainu people or individuals of partial Ainu ancestry living in Wakkanai (see History above). ==Government==