Yellowknife Webcam – See Canada’s Subarctic Capital

The Yellowknife Webcam looks out from the top of the Rock in Old Town, the six storey outcrop that carries the Bush Pilots Monument above the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories. Three cameras share that one vantage point. The first faces the city, across cabins, a Quonset hut and a floatplane dock toward the apartment blocks standing on the downtown ridge. The second turns southeast over Yellowknife Bay, where houseboats and sailboats ride at anchor off Jolliffe Island and barges lie against the government dock. The third points back at the monument itself, at the wooden staircase and the railed lookout on the bare rock. Few views on this site change as hard between seasons: open water and near constant daylight in July, ice and five hour days in December.

About Yellowknife

Yellowknife stands on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay, roughly 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of the Arctic Circle. The 2021 census counted 20,340 residents, and the ground under the city sits just 206 meters (676 feet) above sea level. The settlement dates from 1934, it became the territorial capital in 1967, and it was incorporated as a city in 1970.

The cameras sit on a piece of ground that locals simply call the Rock, a six storey hill in the middle of Old Town where the town’s original water tower once stood. The concrete Bush Pilots Monument on top honors the pilots and engineers who died flying the Northwest Territories in the 1920s and 1930s, and its plaques mark a hundred years of aviation in the North. The mast beside it carries a strobe. Pilots switch it on when they are about to land on or lift off Back Bay or East Bay, warning boats below to keep clear, and in winter the same water carries skiplanes instead of floats.

The Yellowknife Webcam is pointed at a far larger body of water than the bay in the frame suggests. Great Slave Lake reaches 614 meters (2,014 feet) at its deepest point, the deepest of any lake in North America, and that bay is only its northern arm. The plaque at the top of the Rock names Jolliffe Island, the low wooded island that anchors the houseboat colony in the middle of the bay view.

Weather and Climate in Yellowknife

Winter is long and it is the defining season. January averages minus 24.6 C (minus 12.3 F), with daily highs near minus 20.2 C (minus 4.4 F) and lows around minus 29 C (minus 20.2 F). Snow falls from September through May and totals about 158 centimeters (62 inches) in a normal year, and the bay in front of the camera goes over to ice, which is why skiplanes replace floatplanes on it. April is a long thaw rather than a spring, averaging minus 5.1 C (22.8 F) and only creeping above freezing in the afternoon, near 1.4 C (34.5 F).

Summer arrives quickly and runs warm for the latitude. July averages 17.4 C (63.3 F), with highs around 22.4 C (72.3 F) and nights near 12.5 C (54.5 F), and the city picks up about 2,255 hours of sunshine across the year, nine to twelve and a half hours a day through June, July and August. It is also dry, with annual precipitation of just 290 millimeters (11.4 inches). The light is the real headline. The day runs about 19 hours and 50 minutes at the June solstice and collapses to roughly 5 hours and 5 minutes at the December one, so the same camera can show a bright midnight in summer and a dark noon in December. October, averaging minus 0.6 C (30.9 F), is the hinge between the two.

Things to Do Near Yellowknife

The most direct thing to do is stand where the cameras stand. The Rock is reached from Franklin Avenue by way of Wiley Road and Ingraham Drive, with a parking lot partway up, and the wooden staircase handles the rest. The lookout at the top is a working viewpoint with benches, interpretive signs and the commemorative plaques, and it takes in Great Slave Lake, Back Bay, Yellowknife Bay, Old Town, Frame Lake and Jolliffe Island in a single turn.

Old Town itself is compact and walkable, and the waterfront framed by the Yellowknife Webcam is where the working North is most visible: the floatplane bases on Back Bay, the marina and the government dock on Yellowknife Bay, and the cluster of painted houseboats moored off Jolliffe Island. Frame Lake lies just inland toward the newer part of the city. For a visit built around the sky rather than the water, the aurora season runs from late September into mid March, when the nights are longer than ten hours; January alone averages close to twenty nights with aurora observed, which is what has made this one of the most reliable places in Canada to look for it.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

Three more Canadian cameras worth a look after this one.

• Cape Churchill Webcam
• Banff Aurora Borealis Webcam
• Edmonton Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Yellowknife located?

Yellowknife is the capital of the Northwest Territories, in northern Canada. It sits on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of the Arctic Circle at an elevation of 206 meters (676 feet).

What can you see on the Yellowknife Webcam?

Three views from the same point on the Rock in Old Town. One looks across Old Town rooftops and a floatplane dock to the downtown ridge, one looks southeast over Yellowknife Bay toward Jolliffe Island and the houseboats, and one shows the Bush Pilots Monument, its staircase and its lookout deck.

What is the weather like in Yellowknife?

Cold and dry. January averages minus 24.6 C (minus 12.3 F) and July averages 17.4 C (63.3 F). Annual precipitation is about 290 millimeters (11.4 inches), with roughly 158 centimeters (62 inches) of snow falling between September and May.

How far is Yellowknife from the Arctic Circle?

About 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of it. That is far enough that the sun still rises every day in midwinter, though only for about 5 hours and 5 minutes at the December solstice.

What is the Bush Pilots Monument?

A concrete monument on top of the Rock in Old Town, honoring the bush pilots and engineers who died flying the Northwest Territories in the 1920s and 1930s. Its plaques mark a hundred years of northern aviation, and the strobe on the mast beside it is switched on by pilots using Back Bay and East Bay, warning boats to keep clear.

When can you see the northern lights in Yellowknife?

From late September to mid March, when nights run longer than ten hours. January averages close to twenty nights with aurora observed. Through the summer the sky never gets properly dark, so the season effectively closes.

How deep is Great Slave Lake?

It reaches 614 meters (2,014 feet), which makes it the deepest lake in North America. Yellowknife Bay, the water in the camera frame, is a shallow northern arm of it.

Source: CasCom Ltd.