# Winter in Barrow, Alaska **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2020, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958 "2020-11-19T12:30:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/1 "2020-11-19T12:30:44Z")
A friend posted one of those “Weird World” images. It shows Barrow (Utqiagvik, to be politically correct), Alaska in darkness, with part of the caption reading “the sun sets November 18 and rises on January 23. Between this period there is total darkness for 67 days”. I disagree According to [Sunrise and sunset times in Utqiaġvik, December 2023](https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/utqiagvik?month=12) , there is “twilight” (to various degrees - even in December. “Civil twilight” is defined as “the period when enough natural light remains that artificial light is not needed”. In other words - would they not need streetlights on during the times of least light? ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/2 "2020-11-19T12:56:52Z")
No artificial light needed, assuming the sky is clear. I suppose rather than checking every day whether there is a probability of clouds during the three-hour civil dawn span, they just leave the lamps on all winter. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/3 "2020-11-19T12:56:53Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > According to [https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/utqiagvik?month=12](https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/utqiagvik?month=12) , there is “twilight” (to various degrees - even in December. “Civil twilight” is defined as “the period when enough natural light remains that artificial light is not needed”. I’ve not been to Barrow, but spent most of one January in Kotzebue. While it never goes into full time polar night mode, it is limited to about 2 hours of official sunlight per day for a while. You could go without artificial lighting for far more than those two hours, as the sun is just below the horizon for several additional hours. It felt like I had a good 6 or so hours of “daytime” if you define it as “can drive easily without headlights”, so Utqiagvik is probably good for at least 2-3 hours or so of that type of light at its darkest. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/4 "2020-11-19T19:40:51Z")
Just for the record, I have seen civil twilight defined as the sun being below the horizon by less than 6 deg, nautical twilight as less than 12 deg, and astronomical twilight as being less than 18 deg. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/5 "2020-12-09T03:16:15Z")
Googling suggests that at local “noon” (if you can call it that when no part of the sun is visible), the darkest day for Barrow will be Dec 21, when the sun will be 4.7 degrees below the horizon. The situation then improves steadily (if a bit slowly at first). On Jan 22, the sun will be visible for 46 minutes, just nipping above the southern horizon. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/6 "2020-12-09T03:24:01Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I have seen civil twilight defined as the sun being below the horizon by less than 6 deg, nautical twilight as less than 12 deg, and astronomical twilight as being less than 18 deg. On Dec 21 in Barrow: - 2hr 59min of Civil twilight - 7hr 20min of Nautical twilight - 10hr 14min of Astronomical twilight ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/7 "2020-12-09T04:23:11Z")
Around the equinoxes, for several days Alert, Nunavut (the northernmost known settlement - it’s a research station) never gets completely dark, and the sun does not rise, either. THAT would be seriously freaky. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/8 "2020-12-09T11:28:29Z")
> [@3AxisCtrl](#): > > Googling suggests that at local “noon” (if you can call it that when no part of the sun is visible), … the sun will be 4.7 degrees below the horizon. If we are accustomed to defining “noon” as when the sun is at its highest point, then there is no change of definition in this case, because for the rest of the day, the sun will be even further than 4.7 degrees below the horizon. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/9 "2020-12-13T05:44:39Z")
After watching this 2007 documentary, I have zero interest in visiting Barrow in the winter: [30 Days of Night (film) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_Days_of_Night_(film)) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/10 "2020-12-13T16:52:39Z")
I’ve followed CBC Nunavut on Facebook and they post some incredible photos from the Arctic during winter. Quite interesting to see it as I’m highly unlikely to ever visit those areas either in AK or Canada ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/11 "2020-12-17T23:19:05Z")
I’ve been at 78 degrees north in December, and it was completely pitch black even at noon. Not a trace of twilight in the southern sky. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/12 "2020-12-18T01:35:32Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > I’ve been at 78 degrees north I had to check the map to see where that is. Wow! If you don’t mind, I’m just curious what brings someone that far north. (My first two guesses are something military, or scientific research.) ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/13 "2020-12-18T14:11:45Z")
A friend and I took a commercial flight to Longyearbyen and stayed there for a few “days” just for fun. No legitimate reason other than to visit the High Arctic. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/14 "2020-12-18T14:27:39Z")
Longyearbyen! I remember reading about that place a couple of years ago. (Maybe you posted on SD at the time?) Fascinating place, I can see why you went “just for fun”! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/15 "2020-12-19T22:21:14Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > I’ve not been to Barrow, but spent most of one January in Kotzebue. I’d never heard of Kotzebue until a few years ago when I hired a programmer who was born there and had stayed through High School. Her whole family was still there 20+ years later. If I may … What were you doing in Kotzebue in January? Besides “not much” 😉 If Google Maps is to be believed, that place sure seems to be real close to the end of the Earth. Not that it’s particularly northerly as Arctic places go, but it just seemed an especially good example of “Why here, Lord? Why did they put this (and us) _here_?” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2020, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/16 "2020-12-20T05:11:05Z")
I did clinicals on an Indian reservation in the Southwest, and one of my colleagues, when he signed on with the Indian Health Service, had a choice between there and Kotzebue, Alaska. He said that Kotzebue would have been the kind of place where HE wouldn’t have minded doing rotations himself, but he sure didn’t want to live there. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/17 "2020-12-21T17:33:18Z")
Back then (25ish years ago?) I was a developer/database dude/hardware implementation specialist (yeah, I was the IT department in many ways) for a grocery point of sale system reseller, so I was sometimes involved with tricky installations. The fact that the install was scheduled north of the Arctic Circle in January wasn’t my choice, any more than an install in New Orleans that I had to do in August. It was a pretty strange place due to things I had never considered. My hotel had weird heat radiators sticking out of the ground as it was built on permafrost and having that thaw in the summer would have been bad news. We were also asked to leave our windows cracked open for some reason. All goods arrive by plane, so most large planes will have something like 12-20 seats and the rest is reserved for cargo. I’m guessing that shipping was by weight for this reason, as liquids such as milk and Coca Cola were insanely expensive, while dry goods were not much more than they cost elsewhere. Then there was the lack of land lines, so everything was via satellite. They’re so far North that the dishes appear to be aiming at the ground, although in reality, they are just barely aimed above the horizon. It was also a “dry” city. You were not allowed to sell alcohol, but you could have it delivered from Anchorage via plane. This is in contrast to Nome (a side trip during this install) which is the same size, but seemed to have two bars for every citizen, likely due to the Iditarod. Finally, when it’s that cold, weird shit happens to your body. When I’d breathe in, my inner nostrils would stick slightly and then release when I’d exhale. It wasn’t painful or anything, just weird. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/18 "2020-12-21T19:52:03Z")
Cool! Or rather, extremely extremely cool bordering on downright insanely frigid! 😉 My closest analog was a bit over a year I spent on an IT project which involved 10 days each month in Montreal. June-August were heavenly. Dec-Feb? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/19 "2020-12-21T23:25:11Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > It was also a “dry” city. You were not allowed to sell alcohol, but you could have it delivered from Anchorage via plane. This is in contrast to Nome (a side trip during this install) which is the same size, but seemed to have two bars for every citizen, likely due to the Iditarod. I only fairly recently learned that a ‘dry’ community in Alaska prohibits even simple possession. > **[List of dry communities by U.S. state](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dry_communities_by_U.S._state)** > > The following list of dry areas by U.S. state details all of the counties, parishes, boroughs, and municipalities in the United States of America that ban the sale of alcoholic beverages. > For more background information, see dry county and Prohibition in the United States. For more information on semi-wet counties, see moist county. > 33 states have laws that allow localities to prohibit the sale (and in some cases, consumption and possession) of liquor. Still, many of these states have no dry... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958/20 "2020-12-22T03:16:53Z")
Were you in Barrow, or another far-northern town? A town that prohibits the sale of alcohol, but allows its possession, is often dubbed “damp.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-in-barrow-alaska/925958.md?page=2)