This phenomenon occurs because the Earth is tilted on its axis by approximately 23 degrees. At the poles (both north and south), this means that the sun only rises and sets once each year. Of course, these phenomena aren’t limited to only northern areas. They also occur in southern regions near the Antarctic Circle.
Weather.com explains: Because the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the sun in the fall and winter, areas north of the Arctic Circle – within 23.5 degrees of the North Pole – experience more than two months when the sun never pops above the horizon.
For the Sun to remain stationary in our sky, that would imply one thing: Earth has become tidally locked to our host star. This means that our tidally-locked day will lengthen to 365 current Earth-days, or one current Earth-year, instead of the usual 24-hours. Quite simply, Everyone Dies™.
While orbiting the sun, we are tilted about 23 degrees from a straight up and down position. The tilt keeps our planet pointed in the same direction all year long as we move around the sun. During the summer months in the northern hemisphere, the Earth faces toward the sun. In the winter, the opposite is true.
Located over 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle , Tromsø, Norway , is home to extreme light variation between seasons. During the Polar Night, which lasts from November to January, the sun doesn’t rise at all. Then the days get progressively longer until the Midnight Sun period, from May to July, when it never sets.
1. Alaska Gets Six Months of 24-Hour Sunlight and Darkness . Barrow is one of Alaska’s northernmost cities and gets complete darkness for two months out of the year. During the summer, the sun doesn’t completely set in Barrow from early May until the end of July.
Anchorage, AK, USA — Sunrise, Sunset, and Moon Times for Today
|Current Time:||Jan 3, 2021 at 4:56:57 am|
|Sunrise Today:||10:09 am↑ 140° Southeast|
|Sunset Today:||4:01 pm↑ 220° Southwest|
|Moonset Today:||12:43 pm↑ 271° West|
|Daylight Hours:||5 hours , 51 minutes (+2m 50s)|
That said, Alaska still gets fairly extreme. For example, Barrow—one of the northernmost towns in Alaska—has about two months of darkness in the winter, from about November 18 to January 22. But in the summer, the sun doesn’t completely set for about 82 days, from roughly May 11 until July 31.
76 days of midnight sun between May and July greets travelers in Northern Norway . The further north you go, the more nights of midnight sun you get. During the summer months, you can experience up to 24 hours of sunlight above the Arctic Circle , which means more time to enjoy the sights and make new discoveries.
Does your home area have midnight sun ? In Barrow, the state’s northernmost community, the sun does not set for more than two and a half months—from May 10 until August 2. In Alaska , the sun travels in a slanting 360 degree circle in the sky, so even if it’s below the horizon, it’s barely below it for a long period.
There would be no seasons, the weather patterns would play havoc, the sea would freeze over one side and evaporate the other and within a few months all life on Earth would be wiped out, even insects and unicellular life would eventually die.
Where Are The Most Dangerous Cities In Alaska?
|Rank||City||Violent Crimes Per Capita|
All of Alaska does not go dark in winter! Shortest Day of the Year.
|Location||The Arctic: 330 miles north of Arctic Circle|
|Total Daylight||67 days of darkness|
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