SALT LAKE CITY — A small town in Alaska won’t see light until next year.
What happened: On Sunday, Utqiagvik saw the sun set at 1:43 p.m. local time. The town will undergo 65 days of night and the sun won’t rise again until Jan. 23, 2019, according to KTUU.
Why?: The town’s experience is called a “polar night,” which occurs when the sun’s disc doesn’t rise above the horizon.
- These events begin at the North Pole in the fall after the autumnal equinox. The darkness slowly spreads throughout the Arctic Circle until the winter solstice, which happens at the end of December, when it begins to reverse in the other direction, according to CNN.
- "This happens every year," CNN meteorologist Judson Jones said. "If you live above the Arctic Circle, there will be a day when the sun sets for the rest of winter. The good news? It will return and then during the summer it won't set for days."
- Utqiagvik is the first town to experience this event because it is one of the towns that is farthest north in Alaska.
Others: But Utqiagvik isn’t alone. The town of Kaktovik will see the sun set on Nov. 24, and it will rise again Jan. 17, 2019, according to KTUU.
- Point Hope will see its final sunset Dec. 5, until the sun rises again Jan. 6, 2019.
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Cold: Utqiagvik will experience wicked-cold temperatures. The average temperature will hover around 6 degrees Fahrenheit for November, according to WHNT-19.
- And in December, temperatures will drop to minus 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit and to minus-7.3 degrees Fahrenheit in January.
- Overnight temperatures can drop to minus 10 to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit.