December 21. The winter solstice. The shortest day of the year. Officially, the first day of winter. For residents of the far north, though, that day marks not the beginning of winter, but the beginning of the end of winter. Why? Because on December 21, we start gaining increments of daylight and the light begins to return to our skies.
A common misconception about Alaska’s winters is that it is dark all the time, all winter long. While Alaska’s winter days are short, as happens in all northern locations, not even Barrow experiences total darkness on the shortest day of the year. Rather, winter days in Alaska, particularly above the Arctic Circle, are filled with soft, warm light and the sky is often a pastel pink all day long. Imagine! Instead of a brief moment of blazing color, as usually marks sunrise or sunset, the entire day may be one long sunrise, even though the sun might never crest the horizon.
In Barrow, Alaska the sun sets in mid-November and doesn’t rise above the horizon again until mid January. Nevertheless, this year on December 22, Barrow had nearly three hours of visible light. Not much, to be sure, but certainly not the two month period of 24-hour darkness that many visualize either. In contrast, Juneau, in the southern part of the state had a six and half hour day, with just over eight hours of visible light on the 22nd.
The table below summarizes the sunrise, sunset and twilight hours for various locations in Alaska on December 22, 2008, from the northern part of the state to the southern part of the state. Seattle, Washington is included for the purpose of comparison. The further north one goes, the greater the gain each day. On December 22, for example, Fairbanks gained 39 seconds of daylight from the previous day, Anchorage gained 24 seconds, And Seattle gained only 10 seconds. In March, when daylight gains are greatest, Barrow will gain up to ten minutes a day!
Winter often seems to be never-ending in Alaska. Despite the beauty of these winter days, most Alaskans look forward to the increase in day length that begins on the winter solstice. After all, the long, mild days of March and April with plenty of snow and daylight, are just around the corner.
| Actual | Civil Twilight | |||||
| Location | Sunrise | Sunset | Day Length | Rise | Set | Visible Light |
| Barrow, Alaska | Jan 19, 2009 | Nov 21, 2008 | --- | 11:58 am | 2:51 pm | 2 hr 52 min |
| Fairbanks, Alaska | 10:58 am | 2:40 pm | 3 hr 41 min | 9:30 am | 4:06 pm | 6 hr 33 min |
| Chistochina, Alaska | 10:09 am | 3:11 pm | 5 hr 1 min | 9:02 am | 4:18 pm | 7 hr 16 min |
| Anchorage, Alaska | 10:14 am | 3:42 pm | 5 hr 27 min | 9:12 am | 4:44 pm | 7 hr 31 min |
| Juneau, Alaska | 8:46 am | 3:07 pm | 6 hr 21 min | 7:53 am | 4:00 pm | 8 hr 7 min |
| Seattle, Washington | 7:55 am | 4:21 pm | 8 hr 25 min | 7:19 am am | 4:57 pm | 9 hr 37 min |
