According to a statement, the sun has set at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the United States’ northernmost town. From that time onward, it would not rise again for another 66 days in Utqiagvik, Alaska and this phenomenon will lead to a very near-darkness environment there.
This news might be shocking for many people in this whole wide world but for this particular Alaskan town, the “Polar Night” is a normal phenomenon that happens every year. The National Weather Service in Fairbanks on Wednesday said the sun will not rise again until the 23rd of January in Utqiagvik.
At 1:30pm AKST this afternoon, the sun will set and Utqiaġvik will enter a 66 day period of polar night. The sun will rise again on January 23rd, 2021. #akwx pic.twitter.com/iN4KXGxBh9
— NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) November 18, 2020
This “Polar Night” phenomenon happens each winter because of the tilt of the Earth’s axis and also none of the Sun’s disc is visible above the horizon at all. It only happens within the polar circles. Danielle Banks who is the particular meteorologist for The Weather Channel said, “There won’t be complete darkness”. She added, “There are a few hours each day with enough light to see, but the folks who live here have technically seen their last sunset until 2021”.
Sources: Washington Post, Twitter NWS Fairbanks.
