What are winters and summers like in the North?
- Long, cold winters and short, cool summers
- Mild winters and hot summers
- Rainy year-round with no snow
- The same as southern Ontario
Answer: Long, cold winters and short, cool summers
The Northern territories have long, cold winters and short, cool summers. Much of the North is tundra, a vast rocky Arctic plain with no trees and permanently frozen soil. Yukon holds Canada’s record for the coldest temperature, -63°C.
Learn more: The North and Yukon
- Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut cover one-third of Canada’s land mass but have only about 139,000 people (2026 estimate).
- Northern mines produce gold, lead, copper, diamonds and zinc. Oil and gas deposits are being developed.
- In summer, daylight can last up to 24 hours. In winter the sun disappears and it is dark for three months.
- The North has long, cold winters and short, cool summers.
- Tundra is a vast rocky Arctic plain with no trees and permanently frozen soil.
- Some people continue to earn a living by hunting, fishing and trapping. Inuit art is sold around the world.
- Thousands of miners came to Yukon in the Gold Rush of the 1890s, celebrated in the poetry of Robert W. Service. Mining is still important.
- The White Pass and Yukon Railway opened in 1900, from Skagway, Alaska, to Whitehorse, the capital.
- Yukon holds Canada’s coldest recorded temperature, -63°C.
- Mount Logan, in Yukon, is Canada’s highest mountain. It is named after geologist Sir William Logan, founder of the Geological Survey of Canada.