Yukon, Canada Weather and Climate

Geographical location

Short for YKN by abbreviationfinder, Yukon is the name of a part of the country in the north of Canada. The Yukon Territory, covering around 483,000 square meters, takes its name from the Yukon River, a huge river that rises in the province of British Columbia and flows into the Bering Sea in Alaska.

Yukon is bounded by the US state of Alaska, the Canadian Northwest Territories, the province of Brithish Columbia and the Arctic Ocean. It is a very sparsely populated area with less than 40,000 people living in it.

Almost 10,000 of them count themselves among the indigenous people, the First Nations. Huge glaciers and mountain ranges, forests and rivers shape the landscape of the Yukon. The second highest mountain in the Rocky Mountains, the 5,959 meter high Mount Logan is located in the territory, as are parts of the famous Hubbard Glacier and the huge Kluone Icefield with the Kaskawulsh Glacier.

A large part of the Yukon is in the permafrost area, the soil does not thaw here even in summer. Everyone knows the name after the Klondike River. This river stands for the gold rush in the Yukon region, during which hundreds of thousands of adventurers flocked to the lonely land at the end of the 19th century to dig gold and make their fortune.

Besides them, the Yukon region was mainly home to hunters, trappers and fishermen who roamed the country in search of bears, caribou, lynxes, beavers and salmon. Today there is also mining, timber industry and gentle tourism.

There are no cities in the European sense in the Yukon. The largest town and capital of the territory is Whitehorse, a town on the Yukon River with almost 27,000 inhabitants. There is an airfield and a train station for the White Pass and Yukon Railway. The Alaska Highway also runs through the city.

Climate in the Yukon

The Yukon Territory is one of the coldest areas in Canada. The annual average temperature is minus 4 ° C. In winter there can be temperatures of minus 30 ° C, the average daytime temperatures in January, for example, are minus 16 ° C.

That is precisely why the far north of Canada is an extraordinary winter adventure with dog sledding and snowmobiling, with snowshoe hikes and northern lights. But there is also a (albeit relatively short) summer in which daytime temperatures of plus 20 ° C and more can be reached. Rainfall is not very frequent all year round.

When is the best time to travel to the Yukon?

Most tourists come to Yukon during the summer months of June to August. Then the temperatures are pleasant for Central Europeans and the days are endless. Many tourist services are generally only open from the end of May to the beginning of October at the latest. After that it becomes even quieter and more deserted, although there are also tourists who find the Yukon particularly great in autumn or winter.

However, we recommend mid-May to mid- September as the best travel time in the Yukon.

Optimal travel time for the regions

In the following overview you can see the best travel time depending on the region (Yukon).

Place	Best travel time
Whitehorse	June, July and August
Dawson	June, July and August

Temperatures, precipitation, sunshine in Whitehorse (Yukon)

	Jan	Feb	March	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Daytime temperature	-14 ° C	-8 ° C	-2 ° C	6 ° C	13 ° C	18 ° C	20 ° C	18 ° C	12 ° C	4 ° C	-6 ° C	-12 ° C
Night temperature	-23 ° C	-18 ° C	-13 ° C	-5 ° C	0 ° C	5 ° C	8 ° C	6 ° C	2 ° C	-3 ° C	-14 ° C	-20 ° C
Precipitation in mm	18	13	14	10	13	31	34	38	30	22	20	20
Rainy days	6	4	3	3	5	6	8	8	8	6	6	6
Hours of sunshine	2	4	5	8	9	9	8	8	5	3	2	1
Sunrise	9:50	8:40	8:20	6:45	5:20	4:30	4:55	6:10	7:25	8:40	9:00	10:05
Sunset	16:25	17:45	20:00	21:20	22:35	23:35	23:20	22:00	20:25	18:50	16:30	15:45

Temperatures

The annual average temperature in White Horse is -1.2 ° C. For comparison: Munich reaches an average of 8.6 ° C, in Berlin it is 9.6 ° C. The warmest month is July (14.1 ° C), coldest month of January with averages of -20.7 ° C.

Precipitation

The annual precipitation is 263 mm on 69 days with precipitation. For comparison: In Munich, 967 mm, in Berlin 570 mm, precipitation is measured annually. There is no rainy season, i.e. months with more than 175 mm of precipitation. Snow is possible in all but June, July and August.

Sunshine

As our climate table shows, June is the sunniest month with an average of 8.9 hours of sunshine per day. On average over the year the sun shines for 5.1 hours per day. For comparison: In Munich and Berlin, the sun shines an average of 4.7 hours per day throughout the year.

Sights & attractions

Kluane National Park in the southwest of the territory is a dream for anyone who wants to experience untouched nature. Its turquoise lakes are a paradise for anglers, its forests deep and its fauna unique. Bears, moose, dall sheep and the famous bald eagle live here. Rafting and canoe tours on the wild mountain rivers and a scenic flight over the glacier landscape are particularly impressive. You should definitely see Bonanza Creek, a stream to the Klondike River.

Here the visitor learns interesting details about the history of the gold rush on the Klondike and if you like, you can still try to get gold from the creek today. When visiting the small capital Whitehorse, the Mc Bride Museum should definitely be visited. It tells the story of Yukon, from its indigenous people and past to the present.

Yukon weather in March, April and May

Average daily temperatures between -7 ° C and 15 ° C can be expected over the next three months. In Dawson, May is still the mildest, March is noticeably colder. Temperatures in Whitehorse are between -2 and 13 ° C and in Dawson between -7 and 15 ° C.

In March it rains depending on the region of 2 (Dawson) to 3 days (Whitehorse), in April at about 3 days and in May to 5 (Whitehorse) to 6 days (Dawson).

In the period from March to May , the sun shines on average between 0 and 9 hours a day. The sunniest weather is Whitehorse in May, but Dawson in March with less sun.