Kam Lake Webcam – Check the Ice and Sky in Yellowknife

The Kam Lake Webcam looks out from the yard of CasCom, a Yellowknife technology company, over a stand of spruce to Kam Lake on the southern edge of the Northwest Territories capital. Shipping containers, fabric storage shelters and a gravel lane fill the foreground, and beyond the treetops the lake runs across the frame to a low, forested far shore. The camera faces roughly southeast, so on autumn mornings the sunrise glows along the horizon near the middle of the picture. It is a working view rather than a postcard, and that is the appeal: the lake turns from grey open water to white ice and back again, the spruce disappear under snow, and the light swings from a few hours a day in December to almost around the clock in June.

About Kam Lake

Kam Lake lies inside Yellowknife’s city limits, south of downtown, and gives its name to the industrial neighborhood around it. The lake had visitors long before the trucks arrived. In 1936 the mining company Cominco built a short-lived prospecting camp on the east shore, because the ice on Kam Lake melts slightly earlier in spring than the ice on Yellowknife Bay, so float planes could land there sooner. In the 1940s a road was cut south from the young gold town to build a radio tower in the bush between Kam and Grace lakes. The tower still stands, and the track is now Kam Lake Road.

Real development came in the early 1970s. The city advertised the first 10 lots in the new Kam Lake Industrial Park in 1971, and the area has stayed a patchwork of quonset huts, gravel pits, junkyards and semi trucks ever since. Lot owners were allowed to build caretaker homes beside their businesses, so a small community of tradespeople, dog mushers and heavy equipment operators grew up among the workshops.

The Kam Lake Webcam belongs to CasCom, which describes itself as Northern Canada’s managed technology service provider, working in IT, cybersecurity and communications. The camera runs alongside the company’s Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station, which sits 189 meters (620 feet) above sea level and also reports to Windy and Weather Underground. The station page posts current conditions, daily and monthly charts and records going back to July 2023, so you can check the temperature behind whatever the lake is doing.

Weather and Climate in Kam Lake

Yellowknife has a subarctic climate, and the 1991 to 2020 normals from the city airport show how wide the swing is. January averages a high of -21.6 C (-7 F) and a low of -29.4 C (-21 F), and by then the lake in front of the camera is ice under snow. April still hovers around freezing by day, with a high of 0.3 C (33 F) and nights near -11 C (12 F). July is the warm month, with highs of 21.5 C (71 F) and lows of 12.6 C (55 F), when the spruce and birch are green and the open water picks up the color of the sky. October averages 1.5 C (35 F) by day and -3.6 C (26 F) at night, the start of the long cold season.

Precipitation is light, about 294 millimeters (11.6 inches) a year, so dry cold is more typical than heavy snowfall. Daylight is the bigger story. Yellowknife gets about five hours of daylight in December and about 20 in June, and civil twilight lasts all night from late May to mid July. In midwinter the frame spends most of the day in darkness, with only a few hours of low light around noon, while in early summer it can stay light in the small hours. Once the ice is thick, dog teams and snowmobiles head out on the kilometers of trails and frozen lakes south of the neighborhood.

Things to Do Near Kam Lake

The best known business in the area for visitors is Beck’s Kennels, a sled dog outfit in Kam Lake. Its tours cross Grace Lake by dog team to a cabin, and you can either drive your own team or ride in the big toboggan. The kennel also runs aurora viewing, ice fishing and snowshoeing outings. In winter you can walk out onto Grace Lake and follow the trails that lead off it, which are often groomed and see the occasional dog team.

Downtown and Old Town are a short drive north up Kam Lake Road. The Bush Pilots Monument stands on a rock outcrop in Old Town above Yellowknife Bay, looking over the houseboats and floatplane docks, and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, the territory’s museum, sits on the shore of Frame Lake near the Legislative Assembly. A walking trail loops around Frame Lake past both buildings. Further out, Fred Henne Territorial Park on Long Lake has a beach and campground beside the airport, and the Ingraham Trail (Highway 4) heads east past a chain of lakes to a short marked hike that ends at Cameron Falls.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

For more of the subarctic, start across town and then head to two other northern skies.

• Yellowknife Webcam
• Churchill Northern Lights Webcam
• Fairbanks Aurora Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Kam Lake located?

Kam Lake is in Yellowknife, the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories, on the south side of the city and still within city limits. Yellowknife sits on the north shore of Great Slave Lake.

What can you see on the Kam Lake Webcam?

The view runs southeast over CasCom’s yard, with shipping containers, storage shelters and a gravel lane up front, then a band of spruce, then Kam Lake and its forested far shore under a wide sky. A few neighboring buildings and parked vehicles sit along the right side of the frame.

What is the weather like in Kam Lake, Yellowknife?

Winters are long and very cold, with January averaging -21.6 C (-7 F) by day and -29.4 C (-21 F) at night. Summers are short and mild, with July highs of 21.5 C (71 F). Yearly precipitation is only about 294 millimeters (11.6 inches).

Does Kam Lake freeze in winter?

Yes. The lake is ice covered through the winter, and dog teams and snowmobiles use the trails and frozen lakes south of the neighborhood. Its ice melts slightly earlier in spring than the ice on Yellowknife Bay, which is why Cominco landed float planes there in 1936.

Where can you see the northern lights near Kam Lake?

Beck’s Kennels, in the Kam Lake area, runs aurora viewing tours alongside its dog sled trips across Grace Lake.

How many hours of daylight does Yellowknife get?

About five hours in December and about 20 hours in June. From late May to mid July, civil twilight lasts all night, so it never gets fully dark.

Who runs the Kam Lake Webcam?

The camera is operated by CasCom, a Yellowknife IT, cybersecurity and communications company, and sits alongside its Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station at 189 meters (620 feet) above sea level.

Source: CasCom Ltd.