ORLANDO, Fla. – You read that right! Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow, Alaska, will watch the sun set for the last time this year on Tuesday.
The sun will officially rise at 12:45 p.m. local time and set at 1:38 p.m., giving Utqiagvik 52 minutes of daylight on Tuesday. The sun won’t rise again above the horizon until Jan. 22, 2026.
The length of that day will be 37 minutes.
Utqiagvik lies within the Arctic Circle.
In the winter months, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, keeping the sun below the horizon.
The tilt of the Earth is why we experience seasons.
Even though there won’t be an official sunrise for more than two months, it isn’t necessarily completely dark all the time.
At its brightest, however, it will look how twilight does in the evening as the sun gets close to, but never rises above, the horizon. It’s the same concept as to why there is still some light even after the sun sets.
In the warm season, the opposite is true. The northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun; therefore, the sun won’t set for a couple of months. This is also known as polar day or the midnight sun.