CNN- This Alaska town won't see the sun for more than 2 months

[Lady Freedom Returns]

This Alaska town won't see the sun for more than 2 months
Kelsie Smith, CNN • Published 20th November 2020

(CNN) — An Alaskan town has said goodbye to daylight for the next two months.

The sun rose and set in Utqiagvik, Alaska, formerly known as Barrow, for the last time for on Thursday for a period of over 60 days.

The small town located north of the Arctic Circle has entered its annual phase of darkness, known as polar night.

"Polar night is a normal phenomenon that happens every winter for Barrow (Utqiagvik), and any other towns inside the Arctic circle," said CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar

Read more @ https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/alaska-town-wont-see-sun-trnd/index.html

From the Tweet:

The sun rose and set in Utqiagvik, Alaska, and people there said goodbye to daylight for the next two months.

The small town located north of the Arctic Circle has entered its annual phase of darkness, known as polar night.

Link to tweet

[LexVegas]

1. Perfect place for some vampires to visit....nt

[vercetti2021]

3. Ahhh

30 Days of Night great movie

[Thomas Hurt]

8. Best vampire movie ever IMO

[Drunken Irishman]

5. 30 Days of Night is a vampire movie that takes place there.

[Dem4Life1102]

13. Rudy's winter home ;)

[MissB]

2. And in the summertime, the opposite

[malaise]

12. I had to adjust to Denmark in summer

It was like three hours of night time

[MissB]

14. It's hard to sleep!

I lived in Anchorage during my high school years. The sun only dipped below the horizon for about four hours. I had to have blackout curtains.

The winters were great (love snow) but the darkness sort of sucked because the daylight hours would happen while I was in school.

[malaise]

15. My first visit to Denmark was more

about cold than light. True story - my sister's husband's sister decided to take me to the beach in early October - she had on a swimsuit - I had on a winter coat

[MissB]

16. Ha!!!

It’s strange how one can adjust to the cold.

Our senior photo at school was taken when it was already snowy. It was late fall. I remember the weather being below zero that day.

I wore a leather mini skirt with of course no stockings. I was not cold. Not sure I was stylish but it was the 80s.

[malaise]

17. I detest the cold and it detests me

Other than an elderly cousin, I'm the only one in my immediate family still in the Caribbean.

[MissB]

18. I've always envied you for living there

Though truth be told, I need the mild rain of the PNW. Dh jokes about moving to somewhere dry like Arizona but he’d really prefer to live at the coast- the rainy Oregon coast.

I’ve always pictured you as having a fabulous beach life.

[malaise]

19. For decades we went to the beach almost every Saturday or Sunday

and we'd head to the really nice country beaches at least two weekends a year.
Haven't been to the beach since December 30 last year - spent all of the Christmas holidays at a nice place outside of Ocho Rios. Now the public beaches on the island are closed because of Covid.

[captain queeg]

4. Yeah never gets dark in the summer.

It transitions as you go further north, but we were up there one summer and it would just get like twilight at night, never really dark. This was more down by anchorage and the peninsula.

[GusBob]

6. No twilight in Utqiagvik

I lived there for a summer. Wish I could post a pic. Full sun over the arctic Ocean at midnight

See post below

[GusBob]

7. I lived there for a summer

It is a rare place to live that's for sure. My p,ace was about a city block off the Artic Ocean

In summer the sun never sets and the Inupiat the first nation people there take full advantage

Those not out in the fish camps play with their toys all night long. 4 wheelers. Run all "night" in the morning the village is silence walking to work you are covered head to toe in mosquitoes unless there is a strong wind

Before I worked there I had to take a profile test and in depth interview regarding the 24 hours of light and dark. Apparently some folks can't handle either, it messes up their Rhythm and they go insane My bedroom was fixed to complete darkness although the natives on their 4 wheelers made it hard to sleep

It's a unique place. You cannot buy alcohol and if I recall right there were 3 small restaurants and the grocery store was expensive. There is not much else to do

Because of my position with the IHS I could not leave the village unless I was accompanied by a native . The graves are above ground and grave robbing was a problem

[mdelaguna]

9. So interesting.

Thanks for this perspective. I would love to know whether Arctic First Nation residents there had metabolically &/or genetically adapted to withstand better the circadian rhythm issue (the way high altitude peoples have for the challenges of that environment).

[GusBob]

11. Yes they have adapted

It was like festival or carnival time for them as they worked and played hard

They can hunt and fish year round and they were doing so day round

In one of my "nightime" strolls along the beach in the village, a guy pulls up with a huge seal he just shot

The only quiet time was in the morning up to 10am or so. Definitely no rush hour

It's non natives that have to be screened for the daily rhythm thing. I guess one of the guys who served before me literally went insane and started walking home across the tundra

[Celerity]

10. Svalbard says hold my beer.

Pretty much everybody there leaves their houses unlocked so people can run inside to escape the very common wandering polar bears. Anyone on the planet (with no legal issues), Americans included, can move there, BUT you have to have a job. There are only around 2,700 permanent residents as well.

Since Svalbard is located north of the Arctic Circle, it experiences midnight sun in summer and polar night in winter. At 74° north, the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days, while the respective figures at 81° are 141 and 128 days.[10] In Longyearbyen, midnight sun lasts from 20 April until 23 August, and polar night lasts from 26 October to 15 February.[6] In winter, the combination of full moon and reflective snow can give additional light.[10] Due to the Earth's tilt and the high latitude, Svalbard has extensive twilights. Longyearbyen sees the first and last day of polar night having seven and a half hours of twilight, whereas the perpetual light lasts for two weeks longer than the midnight sun.[11][12] On the summer solstice, the sun bottoms out at 12° sun angle in the middle of the night, being much higher during night than in mainland Norway's polar light areas.[13] However, the daytime strength of the sun remains as low as 35°.

https://www.norden.org/en/info-norden/moving-or-travelling-svalbard

https://www.lifeinnorway.net/living-on-svalbard/


NORTHERN LIGHTS AND HEAVY DRINKING: WHAT IT'S LIKE TO SPEND 100 DAYS WITHOUT SUNLIGHT IN SVALBARD

With a brutal winter that sees no sunshine for four months, no wonder the residents of Svalbard drink more booze than anywhere else in Norway

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/svalbard-100-days-dark-winter-no-sunlight-arctic-norway-holidays-tours-a7591366.html