Overview
- National Weather Service officials say the 84-day run, which began Sunday, will keep the sun up in Utqiagvik until Aug. 2.
- Timelapse video from NWS shows the sun skimming the horizon around 1:48 a.m. and rising again at 2:57 a.m. as the continuous daylight started.
- AccuWeather notes the town will see twilight-like nights after Aug. 2 and won’t get true darkness until about Sept. 21.
- The phenomenon occurs because Earth is tilted about 23.5 degrees, and Utqiagvik sits hundreds of miles north of the Arctic Circle where summer daylight can last all day.
- Home to roughly 4,500 people, the town stays relatively cool despite the light, adapts daily routines to the season, and later faces a roughly 64-day polar night each winter.