Photo: Adam Jones, Ph.D. · CC BY-SA 3.0Tuktoyaktuk sits near the bottom of Canadian towns for rain and snow, with 250 mm a year
Deep winter brings January lows near −29.5°C. The gap between a January night and a July afternoon is 45°C. Frost is common: about 261 nights a year drop below freezing, more than in almost every Canadian town. Ice scrapers and block heaters earn their keep on roughly 261 days a year at 0°C or below.
Figures: ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals at Tuktoyaktuk (1.8 km south).
A year in Tuktoyaktuk at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Tuktoyaktuk’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in the Northwest Territories beside it.
What a year in Tuktoyaktuk feels like
Each season’s and each month’s usual high and low, 1991–2020.
Frost on 261 days, 20°C on 15
Frost comes from August to June; in January almost every night freezes. On about 142 nights a year the air falls below −20°C.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
250 mm of precipitation in a typical year
The most falls in August, the least in April. 3rd wettest of 4 towns of 2,500+ in the Northwest Territories. On about 66 days a year, 1 mm or more falls.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Tuktoyaktuk publishes no full year of precipitation, so these figures come from Inuvik, 129 km away.
Heating a home in Tuktoyaktuk
81% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: August to June.
Each day the mean sits under 18°C adds its shortfall; a year’s total is its heating degree days. Homes here need more heating than almost every Canadian town.
Living with Tuktoyaktuk’s climate
Gardening, time outside, winter cold and summer heat, from the 1991–2020 normals.
A normal year gives the garden about 73 frost-free days, roughly 23 June to 5 September.
No month here brings highs of 17–27°C together with nights of 8°C or more.
Parks & trails →About 179 days a year bring a wind chill under −20, when bare skin chills fast.
For the weather that does damage, from ice storms to floods, see Tuktoyaktuk’s hazards page.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Tuktoyaktuk
Behind the 1991–2020 normals for Tuktoyaktuk are 3 stations, which ECCC combines into one record.
| Distance from the town | 1.8 km south |
| Station altitude | 4 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Precipitation from | Inuvik, 129 km |
| Snowfall from | No location within 100 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −43.6°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 30.4°C |
| Average wind | 16.0 km/h on average, most often from the east |
| Next-nearest location | Liverpool Bay, 84 km |
How Tuktoyaktuk compares
Against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, each read from its own normals location; the dots are the other locations those towns use in the Northwest Territories.
Nearby towns’ climate
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on Tuktoyaktuk’s own would show the same figures). No closer place has figures: this one lies 124 km from Tuktoyaktuk.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuktoyaktuk | 15.5°C | −29.5°C | 250 mm |
| Inuvik 124 km · Inuvik | 19.3°C 3.8°C warmer | −28.4°C 1.1°C milder | 250 mm |
Tuktoyaktuk weather by month
Each month’s normals, 1991–2020: high, low, mean and precipitation.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −22.0°C | −29.5°C | −25.8°C | 13 mm |
| February | −22.1°C | −29.8°C | −26.0°C | 11 mm |
| March | −19.6°C | −28.4°C | −24.0°C | 14 mm |
| April | −9.8°C | −19.3°C | −14.6°C | 10 mm |
| May | 1.3°C | −6.3°C | −2.5°C | 14 mm |
| June | 11.6°C | 2.4°C | 7.0°C | 24 mm |
| July | 15.5°C | 7.3°C | 11.4°C | 40 mm |
| August | 12.5°C | 5.9°C | 9.2°C | 42 mm |
| September | 6.3°C | 0.9°C | 3.6°C | 33 mm |
| October | −3.6°C | −8.8°C | −6.3°C | 23 mm |
| November | −13.7°C | −20.5°C | −17.1°C | 15 mm |
| December | −20.3°C | −27.2°C | −23.8°C | 12 mm |
| Year | −5.3°C | −12.8°C | −9.1°C | 250 mm |
October has run from −36.2°C to 17.9°C in thirty years
The month to count on least is March: one year in three its average strays more than 3.9°C from −24.0°C. June moves least, typically by 1.3°C.
Where Tuktoyaktuk’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991–2020 normals, Tuktoyaktuk: the nearest of its locations with every month’s temperatures.
- Other locations: a location missing months of precipitation or snow is filled from the nearest that has them all, never mixed month by month.
- Comparisons: the towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ across Canada, each on its nearest normals location, without the city totals or the reserves.
- Not on this page: snow, with no complete snowfall normals within 100 km, sunshine, which ECCC published for no location, and any height adjustment.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Tuktoyaktuk’s climate
How warm does Tuktoyaktuk get in summer?
A normal July afternoon tops out at about 15.5°C, the year’s high point.
How cold does Tuktoyaktuk get in winter?
At its coldest, in February, the normal low is −29.8°C.
How much rain and snow does Tuktoyaktuk get?
August is the wettest month at 42 mm and April the driest at 10 mm, for 250 mm over the year.
Are these figures for Tuktoyaktuk itself?
They are: the normals station that gives them stands in Tuktoyaktuk.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Tuktoyaktuk →
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).