Yesterday was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Those of us in Anchorage saw not quite 5-1/2 hours of daylight. The further north you go, the daylight hours decrease. Fairbanks’ sunrise yesterday was at 10:50am and sunset was 2:41pm, only 3 hours and 42 minutes of sun. Barrow**, the northern most town in Alaska, had their last sunset on November 18 and won’t see a sunrise again until January 23, 2023. That’s 67 days of darkness.
Now days will begin lengthening. On March 22, the Spring Equinox, Anchorage will be gaining 6 minutes of sunlight a day. That is the equivalent of a daylight savings time change every two weeks. By the Summer Solstice, Anchorage will see 19 hours between sunrise and sunset. Barrow will be enjoying over 80 days of uninterrupted sunlight. I guess that’s enjoyable.
The solstice yesterday was at 12:47pm. It’s the moment when the North Pole is tilted furthest away from the sun. A fun fact about the Winter Solstice is that’s the day people cast the longest shadows of the year. Sal and I went out at 1:00 and played around with our shadows. I’ve read shadows are 50 to 60 feet long. We didn’t measure ours, but we sure had fun and laughed at the results.
** Barrow now is actually the city of Utqiagvik. The name was changed per a city referendum in 2016. The change supports the use of the Inupiaq language and is part of the decolonization process. The name refers to a place for gathering wild roots.
No comments:
Post a Comment