FAQ

What is a famous food in Whitehorse?

Many restaurants serve local food like Arctic Char which comes from the arctic area. Also, meats like bison and reindeer are served as part of traditional meals. In the very far north you can also expect to taste traditional indigenous meals.

Can I take Aurora photos with a cellphone?

Basically, it is very difficult to take night photos with a cellphone. To capture the Northern lights you will need to position your camera on a tripod to make sure you don't have any motion while you take a photo. We recommend to bring a camera which has a manual mode, which most medium-priced cameras have nowadays.

Why are auroras so colourful?

The colours of the aurora are determined by the composition of gases in the Earth's atmosphere, the altitude at which the aurora occurs, the density of the atmosphere, and the level of energy involved.

Green, the most common colour seen from the ground, is produced when charged particles collide with oxygen at lower altitudes (around 100-300 km). Occasionally, the lower edge of an aurora will have a pink or crimson fringe, which is produced by nitrogen molecules (around 100 km).

Higher in the atmosphere (300-400 km), collisions with atomic oxygen produce reds instead of greens. Since the atmosphere is less dense at higher altitudes, it takes more energy and more time to produce red light (up to two minutes), whereas green light can be made quickly at lower altitudes (about one second).

Hydrogen and helium can also produce blue and purple, but those colours tend to be difficult for our eyes to see against the night sky.

Three Day - Aurora Weather Forecast

Whitehorse (Canada)

Rental Clothing

Yukon Climate

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 10.0
(50)
11.7
(53.1)
16.8
(62.2)
21.8
(71.2)
34.1
(93.4)
34.4
(93.9)
33.2
(91.8)
31.6
(88.9)
26.7
(80.1)
19.3
(66.7)
13.3
(55.9)
10.6
(51.1)
34.4
(93.9)
Average high °C (°F) −11.0
(12.2)
−7.7
(18.1)
−0.7
(30.7)
6.6
(43.9)
13.5
(56.3)
19.1
(66.4)
20.6
(69.1)
18.5
(65.3)
12.1
(53.8)
4.2
(39.6)
−6.0
(21.2)
−8.5
(16.7)
5.1
(41.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) −15.2
(4.6)
−12.7
(9.1)
−6.3
(20.7)
1.0
(33.8)
7.3
(45.1)
12.3
(54.1)
14.3
(57.7)
12.6
(54.7)
7.2
(45)
0.5
(32.9)
−9.4
(15.1)
−12.5
(9.5)
−0.1
(31.8)
Average low °C (°F) −19.2
(−2.6)
−17.6
(0.3)
−11.9
(10.6)
−4.6
(23.7)
1.0
(33.8)
5.6
(42.1)
8.0
(46.4)
6.7
(44.1)
2.1
(35.8)
−3.2
(26.2)
−12.9
(8.8)
−16.5
(2.3)
−5.2
(22.6)
Record low °C (°F) −56.1
(−69)
−51.1
(−60)
−42.2
(−44)
−30.6
(−23.1)
−12.9
(8.8)
−6.1
(21)
−2.2
(28)
−8.3
(17.1)
−19.4
(−2.9)
−31.1
(−24)
−47.2
(−53)
−48.3
(−54.9)
−56.1
(−69)
Average mm (inches) 17.8
(0.701)
11.8
(0.465)
10.3
(0.406)
7.0
(0.276)
16.3
(0.642)
32.4
(1.276)
38.1
(1.5)
35.8
(1.409)
33.3
(1.311)
23.2
(0.913)
20.1
(0.791)
16.3
(0.642)
262.3
(10.327)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 0.3
(0.012)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
1.2
(0.047)
14.3
(0.563)
32.4
(1.276)
38.1
(1.5)
35.5
(1.398)
29.0
(1.142)
8.8
(0.346)
1.0
(0.039)
0.4
(0.016)
160.9
(6.335)
Average snowfall cm (inches) 25.4
(10)
18.3
(7.2)
14.8
(5.83)
7.2
(2.83)
2.0
(0.79)
0.0
(0)
0.0
(0)
0.3
(0.12)
4.7
(1.85)
18.6
(7.32)
27.0
(10.63)
23.5
(9.25)
141.8
(55.83)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) 11.2 8.3 6.4 4.4 8.0 10.9 13.5 12.5 11.9 11.5 11.5 11.2 121.2
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) 0.2 0.1 0.1 1.1 7.5 10.9 13.5 12.4 11.0 5.1 0.8 0.3 62.9
Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm) 11.9 9.1 7.0 3.8 1.2 0.0 0.0 0.3 1.5 7.9 12.4 12.2 67.4
Average relative humidity (%) 72.2 64.5 51.8 42.1 38.2 39.9 46.0 47.9 54.5 64.2 75.2 74.7 55.9
Mean monthly sunshine hours 43.8 105.5 163.2 238.5 251.1 266.7 247.6 226.5 132.7 84.9 39.8 26.8 1,827.1
Percent possible sunshine 21.4 41.6 44.8 54.4 46.8 46.9 43.8 46.4 34.1 27.0 17.8 14.9 36.7