Understand
Like many of the Gulf Islands, Saturna is short on fresh water, so water thriftiness is expected.
Climate
In this area, daily temperatures rise above 30°C 86°F on an average of one or two days per year and fall below -5°C 23°F on an average of only 2 nights per year. During the winter, the average daily high and low temperatures are 8.2°C 47°F and 3.6°C 38°F, respectively. The summer months are equally mild, with an average high temperature of 19.6°C 67°F and low of 11.3°C 52°F.
This may seem like mild weather, but boaters and kayakers can feel very chilled especially if soaked by rain or waves. Hypothermia is a very real possibility.
Nearly two-thirds of the area's rainfall occurs between November and February, with July being the driest month on average. August and September frequently experience morning fogs.
History
The island was first used by indigenous people who called the island "Long Nose," due to the island's long north-eastern tapering shoreline that ends at East Point.Saturna was explored by Spanish sailors and named in 1791 after their naval schooner, the Santa Saturnina, one of the ships in the Spanish expedition that explored the Strait of Georgia. The first European settlers arrived in the 1800s.