83 days of sunlight: Alaska town won’t see another sunset until August
Utqiagvik, Alaska, the northernmost town on the continent, is about to enter its annual stretch of the midnight sun, when the sun stays above the horizon until August.
In Utqiagvik, Alaska, the northernmost U.S. city, May 10 marked the final sunrise before 84 days of continuous daylight, driven by Earth’s tilt.
On Sunday May 10, the sun set at 1:48 a.m. AKDT in Utqiagvik, Alaska, and rose at 2:57 a.m., marking the last time the sun will dip below the horizon until early August in the land of the midnight sun.
Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow, is the northernmost town in the United States. Its location along the Arctic Ocean gives it dramatic swings in daylight throughout the year, from nonstop sunshine around the summer solstice to weeks of darkness in winter.
This year, the town’s stretch of 24-hour daylight will last until Aug. 2, when the sun finally dips below the horizon again.
Seen from an aerial view, homes stand along the Arctic Ocean on August 10, 2023, in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Located above the Arctic Circle, Utqiagvik is the northernmost settlement in the United States. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Home to just under 5,000 people, Utqiagvik is no stranger to these extremes. But round-the-clock daylight does not mean summerlike warmth. July is typically the warmest month of the year, and the historical average high temperature is still only 49 degrees.
Even so, brief warm spells can push temperatures into the 70s on rare occasions. Summer snow is also not out of the question that far north, with snowflakes reported on seven days last June.
In this Aug. 12, 2005, file photo, a boat drives past a skin boat display near whale bones and an arch made of a whale jaw on the beach in a town that was known as Barrow, Alaska. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)
Even after the sun sets again on Aug. 2, Utqiagvik will not plunge into darkness right away. The sun will stay close enough to the horizon to keep twilight in the sky, and true nighttime darkness will not return until Sept. 21.
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