It can also be reached through Atlin Airport. Prior to the 1950 construction of the Atlin Road by the Canadian Army, Atlin was reached overland by two lake steamers, the Tutshi and Tarahne, with a two-mile rail line between the lakes they plied, until the 1930s, then was isolated. Atlin telephone service is provided by Telus Communications since the independent company serving Atlin was merged into B.C. Tel in the mid-20th Century, and B.C. Tel merged with Telus in 2000. When long distance telephone service was extended to Atlin in 1974, it passed through the territory of Northwestel; an arcane rate agreement between Northwestel and B.C. Tel meant that Atlin residents paid Northwestel long distance rates to and from Whitehorse, plus an additional rate between Whitehorse and Atlin; a CRTC order in the early 1990s forced B.C. Tel to charge its own rates and absorb the cost of passing the calls through Northwestel facilities. Atlin long relied on a local diesel generator, but hydro power was restored around 2012 with a micro-hydro project near where one historically operated. The output is sufficient for local use, but expansion is being studied, with possible sale of surplus to Yukon Energy Corporation. Atlin has a radio repeater carrying CBC Radio One, and also has a community-owned television transmitter carrying CBC Television by satellite; when first established, the CBC TV signal was relayed from Whitehorse by a repeater on White Mountain near Jake's Corner. Atlin has a subarctic climate (Köppen "Dsc") with long, cold winters and short, mild summers. The westerly location and minor Pacific influence, however, makes the winters markedly less severe than in most of northern Canada, and the town is among the northernmost in Canada with a mean annual temperature above . Precipitation is generally light, with less than of actual rainfall per year, and a snowfall less than that of markedly milder Juneau on the coast. Atlin was featured on the historical television series Gold Trails and Ghost Towns, season 1, episode 9.