If you live in Utqiagvik, Alaska — the northernmost town in the U.S. — Tuesday, November 18 is a big day. That sunset will be the last time anyone there sees the sun in 2025, as the community heads into what’s known as polar night: about 65 straight days without a sunrise.

Utqiagvik, formerly Barrow, sits at the very top of Alaska, roughly 300 miles above the Arctic Circle. At that latitude, the sun’s seasonal behavior gets… dramatic. The reason for the long darkness isn’t mysterious at all — it’s just Earth’s tilt. As the Northern Hemisphere leans away from the sun from fall through winter, daylight slips farther and farther south. By the time we approach the December solstice, places this far north lose direct sunlight entirely.

That doesn’t mean Utqiagvik turns pitch-black 24/7. During polar night, there’s a bit of dim twilight near the southern horizon for a few hours each day, and sometimes the Aurora Borealis paints the sky with green and purple light shows.

Still, the sun itself won’t return until January 22, 2026.

The conditions are extreme — temperatures often plunge well below zero — and the absence of sunlight can affect daily routines, energy levels, and even sleep patterns for the town’s roughly 5,000 residents.

But the darkness doesn’t last forever. When spring arrives, the light comes back quickly. And by mid-May, Utqiagvik will flip to the opposite extreme: the sun won’t set for about 80 days, kicking off its famous season of never-ending daylight.

In the Arctic, the sun doesn’t just rise and set — it disappears and returns in grand, cosmic style.

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Dan Mitchell

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