Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador

For other uses, see Fogo Island (disambiguation).

Fogo Island is a town located on Fogo Island, the largest of the offshore islands in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Fogo Island
Town
Town of Fogo Island
Fogo Island Inn
Flag
Fogo Island Location of Fogo Island in Newfoundland
Coordinates: 49°39′30″N 54°10′57″W[1]
Country	Canada
Province	Newfoundland and Labrador
Incorporated[3]	March 1, 2011
Population  (2021)[4]
• Total	2,117
Time zone	UTC-03:30 (NST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-02:30 (NDT)
Area code	709
Highways	MV Veteran Route 333 Route 334
Website	Town of Fogo Island

History

The Town of Fogo Island was incorporated on March 1, 2011 following the amalgamation of four towns – Fogo, Joe Batt's Arm-Barr'd Islands-Shoal Bay, Seldom-Little Seldom and Tilting – with the unincorporated balance of the Fogo Island.^[3]

Geography

Climate

Fogo Island has a marine-based subarctic climate (Dfc) bordering on a cold humid continental climate (Dfb) with cooler summers than inland areas of Newfoundland as well as milder winters than areas on the same parallels in interior Canada. However, due to the very cool characteristics of summer months, Fogo Island in many ways resembles the subarctic range. The fourth warmest month of June just straddles 10 °C (50 °F) in mean temperature. As typical of Newfoundland and its surroundings precipitation is high and consistent year-round, which results in more than 3.5 m (11 ft) of snowfall on average in winter.^[5] Due to the extreme seasonal lag autumn is much warmer than spring, and as such the coldest and warmest months are February and August, respectively.^[5]

Climate data for Fogo Island (1981–2010, extremes 1873–2004)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	15.5 (59.9)	12.5 (54.5)	18.0 (64.4)	24.0 (75.2)	27.0 (80.6)	29.5 (85.1)	31.5 (88.7)	30.6 (87.1)	28.0 (82.4)	25.0 (77.0)	18.3 (64.9)	15.6 (60.1)	31.5 (88.7)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	−3.0 (26.6)	−3.3 (26.1)	−0.2 (31.6)	3.6 (38.5)	9.2 (48.6)	14.3 (57.7)	18.9 (66.0)	19.5 (67.1)	15.3 (59.5)	9.5 (49.1)	4.4 (39.9)	0.6 (33.1)	7.4 (45.3)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−5.9 (21.4)	−6.9 (19.6)	−3.5 (25.7)	0.8 (33.4)	5.4 (41.7)	9.9 (49.8)	14.6 (58.3)	15.8 (60.4)	12.1 (53.8)	7.1 (44.8)	2.2 (36.0)	−1.8 (28.8)	4.2 (39.6)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−8.8 (16.2)	−10.3 (13.5)	−6.7 (19.9)	−2.0 (28.4)	1.6 (34.9)	5.5 (41.9)	10.3 (50.5)	12.1 (53.8)	8.9 (48.0)	4.6 (40.3)	−0.1 (31.8)	−4.2 (24.4)	0.9 (33.6)
Record low °C (°F)	−24.0 (−11.2)	−30.6 (−23.1)	−26.5 (−15.7)	−16.5 (2.3)	−12.2 (10.0)	−6.7 (19.9)	−1.7 (28.9)	0.0 (32.0)	0.0 (32.0)	−7.0 (19.4)	−13.3 (8.1)	−22.8 (−9.0)	−30.6 (−23.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	104.5 (4.11)	104.2 (4.10)	99.9 (3.93)	86.4 (3.40)	78.7 (3.10)	82.3 (3.24)	91.0 (3.58)	102.4 (4.03)	111.8 (4.40)	116.9 (4.60)	101.5 (4.00)	107.3 (4.22)	1,187 (46.73)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	17.4 (0.69)	21.9 (0.86)	33.4 (1.31)	55.0 (2.17)	74.9 (2.95)	80.6 (3.17)	91.0 (3.58)	102.4 (4.03)	111.8 (4.40)	114.2 (4.50)	85.5 (3.37)	48.9 (1.93)	837.1 (32.96)
Average snowfall cm (inches)	87.1 (34.3)	82.4 (32.4)	66.5 (26.2)	31.4 (12.4)	3.7 (1.5)	1.7 (0.7)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	2.7 (1.1)	16.0 (6.3)	58.4 (23.0)	349.9 (137.8)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)	17.2	15.9	15.8	15.4	15.7	15.3	16.5	13.5	14.4	18.6	15.8	17.3	191.3
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)	3.6	4.5	6.6	10.2	15.4	15.2	16.5	13.5	14.4	18.4	13.9	9.2	141.3
Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm)	15.3	12.8	11.3	6.9	0.93	0.15	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.50	3.3	9.9	61.1
Source: Environment Canada[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Fogo Island had a population of 2,117 living in 964 of its 1,450 total private dwellings, a change of -5.7% from its 2016 population of 2,244. With a land area of 238.25 km² (91.99 sq mi), it had a population density of 8.9/km² (23.0/sq mi) in 2021.^[4]

Name	Former status	Population (2016)	Population (2011)	Per cent change (%)	Occupied dwellings	Private dwellings	Land area (km²)	Population density
Fogo[25]	Town	658	658	0.0	289	349	5.92	111.2
Joe Batt's Arm-Barr'd Islands-Shoal Bay[25]	Town	630	685	-8.0	282	399	26.02	24.2
Seldom-Little Seldom[26]	Town	386	427	-9.6	151	180	14.60	26.4
Tilting[26]	Town	173	204	-15.2	84	152	17.63	9.8
Balance of Fogo Island[27]	Unincorporated	397	421	-5.7	979	1,460	173.48	2.3
Fogo Island[27]		2,244	2,395	-6.3	979	1,460	237.65	9.4

Fogo Island had a population of 2,706 people in the 2006 census, 2,395 in the 2011 census, and 2,244 in the 2016 census.^[28]

Arts and culture

Brimstone Head Folk Festival

The community of Fogo in Fogo Island is home to the Brimstone Head Folk Festival, hosted by the Fogo Island Folk Alliance. This event attracts people from all over every year in early August. Performers consist of many bands which have included The Masterless Men, The Irish Descendants, Middle Tickle, The Fogo Island Accordion Group, Shores of Newfoundland, The Affections and many other local performers such as Aaron Brown, Sally Payne and Jason Hoven.

Brimstone Head was touted as one of the four corners of the world by the tongue-in-cheek Flat Earth Society of Canada^[29] (not related to the Flat Earth Society).

Along with the Brimstone Head Folk Festival, other communities have festivals as well. Joe Batt's Arm hosts the Ethridge's Point Seaside Fest, which usually takes place during the first weekend in August, the weekend before the Brimstone Head festival.

Transportation

Fogo Island is accessible by ferry or air.^[30][31] The local airstrip is the Fogo Aerodrome.^[30]

Notable people

• Zita Cobb – founder of Shorefast
• Rob Furlong - world record holder for longest recorded sniper kill March 2002 - November 2009

See also

• Fogo Island Inn
• List of communities in Newfoundland and Labrador