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profdant139's avatar
profdant139
Explorer II
Mar 07, 2016

Yukon in September -- how late is too late for safe travel?

Dreaming of the Far North after mosquito season -- and I don't mind night-time temperatures in the twenties. Generally speaking, how late in September can we travel in the Yukon and Northern BC without running into major snowstorms?

We have chains for our truck (have never had to use them) and chains for the trailer (ditto). I can tow in snow and ice, but that is not my preference.

I understand that conditions vary from year to year -- but in general, when does driving (and towing) become unsafe?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

13 Replies

  • RE: Mosquitoes

    If you can stay out of the deep forests so that your campsite will get some air, that will really help.

    Also, although you can't really plan it but some summers have less rain than others and therefore less mosquitoes.

    On our all-summer trip to Alaska and lots of time spent in the Yukon, we didn't consider mosquitoes to be an issue for us. The weather reports that summer were also of it being a dry summer. Then, too, we had lived in Michigan and we've encountered more mosquitoes there than our Alaskan trip.
  • In Sept. 2013, there was no problem driving most of the way to Inuvik on the Dempster. link
  • I look at mid October as the cutoff for heading down the Alaska Highway with the RV, because of some of the high passes like Summit Lake. In Whitehorse I figure on the end of October as the date when the snow no longer melts away. While heavy snow does occasionally come even in early September, it's uncommon and melts away quickly.