The Sun Will Set For The Last Time This Year In Alaska’s Arctic City

The sun will set for last time until 2018 in Utqiagvik, Alaska's northernmost city formerly called Barrow. In Alaska's Arctic city, the sun spends months in the sky during the summer "midnight sun" season. That means it's time to pay the piper with months of darkness and bitter cold. Learn more about life in this extreme place in What Life Is Like In The Coldest Town In America. Although stark and treeless, the arctic has a unique beauty all it's own and this fascinating and ancient community continues to thrive through the months of darkness.

The sun will go down on November 18, 2018 at 1:43 PM for the rest of the year. No more sunrises or sunsets, no more daylight hours.

There will still be hours of Astronomical Twilight, where the sky will lighten, and a shorter segment of Civil Twilight, light enough to drive without your lights on.

This will slowly decrease until the winter solstice on December 21, 2018. On that day, there are just three hours of civil twilight from 11:56 AM to 2:54 PM.

On January 23, 2019, the sun will rise for the first time of the new year, although it will only rise from 1:04 PM to 2:14 PM.

The residents keep busy through the winter months while the cold rules, and await the return of the sun. The triumphant return of the sun brings long arctic summers with endless sunlight.

Watch the sunset for the last time in 2017 here:

Watch the sun go down for the year on the Utqiagvik Sea Ice WebCam from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

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Have you been to Utqiagvik? Do you live there? Tell us about it in the comments below.