A Town in Alaska has bid goodbye to the Sun and will see the next daylight in 2021.
Formerly known as Barrow, in the town of Utqiagvik, the sun set for the last time in 2020 on November 19 for a span of over 60 days.
Utqiagvik lies within the Arctic circle. In the winter months, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, keeping the sun below the horizon..
The occurrence is known as polar night. The phenomenon takes place during winters because of the tilt of the axis of the Earth, CNN reported.
The polar night occurs in the northernmost and southernmost regions of the Earth when the night lasts for more than 24 hours. This occurs only inside the polar circles.
No sun for two months: Sun sets for last time in 2020 in America’s northernmost city
Official twitter account of Bureau of Land Management in Alaska tweeted,
Goodnight Utqiaġvik!
Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow) the northernmost town in Alaska and the U.S. had its last glimpse of the
today. Tomorrow, 66 days of Polar Night
begins for this Arctic community.#GeographyAwarenessWeek pic.twitter.com/6Xm51ztApQ
— BLM Alaska (@BLMAlaska) November 18, 2020
Even though there won’t be an official sunrise for more than two months, it isn’t necessarily completely dark all the time. At its brightest, however, it will look how twilight does in the evening as the sun gets close to, but never rises above, the horizon. It’s the same concept as to why there is still some light even after the sun sets.
In the warm season, the opposite is true. The northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun and, therefore, the sun won’t set for a couple of months. This is also known as polar day or the midnight sun.
As you may have noticed, the daylight is decreasing across Central Florida as well. Florida, of course, will also continue to see the sun as the Sunshine State lies much closer to the equator.
Since the Autumnal Equinox, the first day of fall, Central Florida has lost nearly 90 minutes of daylight. Daylight will continue to decrease until the shortest day of the year, the first day of winter on Dec. 21. The earliest sunset for Orlando is 5:28 p.m. in early December
