The sun has officially set for the year in Utqiagvik, Alaska (formerly Barrow), marking the start of its long winter darkness.
The town, located above the Arctic Circle, has now entered its annual period of polar night, when the sun stays below the horizon for more than 24 hours.
The scientific cause of this unusual phenomena is because of the Earth’s axial tilt. In the winters earth’s northern hemisphere leans away from the sun to the extent that, the next sun light will move away almost 2 months. For Utqiagvik, the remote town of Alaska, this means the sun will not rise again until January 22, 2026.
From almost mid-November till late January, residents of Barrow will experience about 64 days without a visible sunrise. While it won’t be completely pitch dark all the time, a few hours of dim twilight will still appear around midday, the sun itself will remain out of sight completely.
Anthropologists and other cultural scientist have long argued how physical climate around the inhabitant societies shape the social interactions and cultural fabric. Similarly, this natural phenomenon is a normal part of life in the Arctic, shaping local routines, culture, and how communities adapt to extreme seasonal changes.
Shocking revelations about Polar Nights
Polar night happens when the sun never rises above the horizon for more than 24 hours. It occurs because the Earth is tilted on its axis, so in winter the polar regions lean away from the sun. This only happens above the Arctic Circle and below the Antarctic Circle (about 66.5° latitude).
Polar night usually happened in places like ‘northern Norway (Tromsø), Svalbard, northern Russia, Greenland, northern Canada, and Arctic Alaska, and in Antarctic research stations in the south’.
However, Pakistan does not experience polar night. Even in its far north (Gilgit-Baltistan), days get short in winter but the sun still rises.
