Alaska's northernmost town, Utqiagvik, has officially entered the period known as the "Midnight Sun," a natural phenomenon that brings uninterrupted light for weeks. Residents of the town, which sits above the Arctic Circle, saw the sun rise on Sunday on May 10 and it won't set again for 84 days, until August 2.
The phenomenon also affects other northern areas of Alaska, including Fairbanks, where uninterrupted daylight will last for about 70 days, until mid-July.
According to scientific explanations, the “Midnight Sun” occurs due to the 23.5-degree tilt of the Earth’s axis, which causes the Sun to not dip below the horizon in some regions during the Northern Hemisphere summer. This effect is most noticeable in areas above the Arctic Circle, where during the summer solstice, the Sun appears to move in a continuous circle across the sky.
The result is a unique period where the day never ends: 24 hours of light, for days on end. The opposite happens during winter in the same region, when Utqiagvik is plunged into about 64 days of continuous darkness, another extreme phenomenon of Arctic life.
The sun came up in Utqiagvik, Alaska — the northernmost city in the US — on Sunday morning and it won't set again until August 2. Timelapse footage from the National Weather Service shows the sun setting at 1:48 am before rising above the horizon at 2:57 am pic.twitter.com/0tReOvnAGx
- ABC News (@ABC) May 11, 2026
