Barrow Alaska begins 12 weeks of midnight sun

[tropicana]

BARROW, Alaska
Sat May 10 2008
— Saturday's sunrise was the last for Barrow residents for the next 84 days, as the summer of continuous daylight begins for the USA's northernmost point.
The sun rose around 2:50am Saturday and will next sink below the horizon at around 2am Aug. 2.

The continuous daylight sends many of Barrow's 5,000 residents stocking up on aluminum foil to cover their bedroom windows so they can sleep.

After the sun sets on Aug. 2 the days begin growing shorter by at least nine minutes a day until the sun sets on Nov. 18, not to rise again until Jan. 23. Then, days begin growing longer by around nine minutes a day until next May 10, information from the U.S. Naval Observatory shows.
Barrow has a midnight sun in summer and no sun at all in the winter because it's about 400 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Although the sun is in the sky 24 hours a day in the summer, it's low in the sky and thus supplies less warmth than in places farther south. July is Barrow's warmest month, but the average high temperature is only 45 degrees and the average low is 34 degrees. Barrow doesnt fully benefit from the extra daylight since it is cloudy 80% of the time, thanks to the Arctic Ocean, which is covered with ice into July.
Even during the winter, Barrow isn't as dark and you might think.
First, even though the sun never rises, it's often less than 6 degrees below the horizon, which means there is "civil twilight." During civil twilight, if the sky isn't cloudy, it's light enough for most outdoor activities without artificial light.
Even on the year's shortest days in late December, Barrow has around three hours of civil twilight each day.

Also, during the winter the moon stays in the sky for days at a time without setting, and then isn't seen for days. The days it is seen are when it's close to being full.

On Saturday, despite the extra daylight, the temperature only climbed to 22F in Barrow, about average for this time of the year.

-justin-

[Cyclenall]

I always wondered what it would feel like to be live there.

[brunota2003]

That is some pretty cool info!

[Dionne]

I worked in Prudhoe Bay, east of Point Barrow. Anything above freezing is a heat wave. The wind is constant, it never stops. The 24 hours of daylight, like the 24 hours of darkness is something you get used to living with. The first time you go into the high north latitudes it is interesting. After that it's all about the money. The pay is extremely good.