ALASKA ?

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jandian

jandian

Senior Member
#1
Feb 12, 2011
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#1
Does anyone in here live in Alaska?
Can you tell me about your day and night times?
I've been taught as a child that you have 6 months darkness and 6 months daylight. I've been trying to research on the net, but there is a lot of people sharing experiences, nothing factual. Nevertheless they are saying that what we've been taught as children is not true. What's up with that?
 
blue_ladybug

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
#2
Feb 21, 2014
70,869
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#2
jandian said:
Does anyone in here live in Alaska?
Can you tell me about your day and night times?
I've been taught as a child that you have 6 months darkness and 6 months daylight. I've been trying to research on the net, but there is a lot of people sharing experiences, nothing factual. Nevertheless they are saying that what we've been taught as children is not true. What's up with that?
Click to expand...

WHY is this in the conspiracy forum? :confused: Maybe baked Alaska really isn't baked Alaska after all.. lol
 
posthuman

posthuman

Senior Member
#3
Jul 31, 2013
36,670
13,130
113
#3
you were probably taught wrong, or didn't pay as much attention as you should.

The Myth of Arctic Daylight and Darkness

even at the poles, there is no 'complete darkness' for half the year; there is twilight. and this wouldn't apply to all of Alaska, but only the northernmost regions. the same would apply for northern Canada, Iceland, Russia, Finland, Sweden or Norway. the further north you live, the closer to what happens at the actual poles you experience. but almost no one actually lives year-round in a place like this.
 
posthuman

posthuman

Senior Member
#4
Jul 31, 2013
36,670
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#4
here's a time-lapse of the shortest day of the year made in northern Alaska

[video=youtube;MXxRcXHI_tI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXxRcXHI_tI[/video]

they only have less than 4 hours of the sun in the sky.
 
posthuman

posthuman

Senior Member
#5
Jul 31, 2013
36,670
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#5
here's a time-lapse from Norway in July showing the sun in the sky all day & night

[video=youtube;vJe_SVgFBh0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJe_SVgFBh0[/video]
 
posthuman

posthuman

Senior Member
#6
Jul 31, 2013
36,670
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#6
jandian said:
I've been trying to research on the net, but there is a lot of people sharing experiences, nothing factual.
Click to expand...
did it not occur to you to look for time-lapse videos on youtube of the arctic / antarctic sky ?

there are a whole slew of videos like this.
 
posthuman

posthuman

Senior Member
#7
Jul 31, 2013
36,670
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#7
here's a pretty nice one from Antarctica showing 24 hours of sunlight

[video=youtube;Zc-WlTaG7WY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc-WlTaG7WY[/video]
 
S

Susanna

Guest
#8
#8
I spent a few months in Europe some 20 years back, and I visited Norway in June...it was totally super awesome...the sun didn't set...at all! People are talking about white nights, but I tell you, it was golden nights...wonderful:)
 
GilaSemut

GilaSemut

Member
#9
Jun 1, 2016
89
3
0
#9
I was in Alaska for 1 year for social work school at UAA. I think we were taught a literal interpretation here. In actuality, the Midnight sun is like evening light, while the darkness is the same - never pitch dark or bright sun light. I remember in July time, around 4am, it would be "dark" but you can still see everything like it was 7pm. I saw a friend water his plants at 1am, and bush pilots flying above. May I ask why you are curious?
 
Angela53510

Angela53510

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#10
Jan 24, 2011
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#10
My son has lived in Yellowknife NWT for 16 years, and he travels up to the remote northern sites north of the Arctic Circle. Winter means 2 hours of twilight where he is, and 22 hours dark, and in the summer, 22 hours light and 2 hour twilight. He hates that the most - it's hard to sleep when it is so bright out.

He said when he traveled north, even at the farthest northern site there was always some twilight in winter. As for 6 months of light and 6 months of dark, I can't imagine who would have told you that. Even when I lived in Edmonton Alberta, the days slowly get longer after the winter solstice, and slowly get darker after the summer solstice. (I'm speaking here of astronomical terms, not New Age mythologies)

In Edmonton, in the winter the sun would rise at 9 am and set by 3:30 pm. That meant for about 2 months in winter, I never saw the sun, because I went to a high school without windows. And no place to go outside and it was too cold anyway. It was neat in summer, that the sun didn't set until midnight, but not worth the long, cold winters.
 
Bushido8000

Bushido8000

Banned
#11
Jan 24, 2012
1,299
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#11
jandian said:
Does anyone in here live in Alaska?
Can you tell me about your day and night times?
I've been taught as a child that you have 6 months darkness and 6 months daylight. I've been trying to research on the net, but there is a lot of people sharing experiences, nothing factual. Nevertheless they are saying that what we've been taught as children is not true. What's up with that?
Click to expand...
Lived in Alaska for 7 years. Here's the scoop. Alaska is roughly the width/height of the Continental US. If you live in Northern Alaska, you get roughly 6 months of total daylight and 6 months of total darkness. The further South you get in Alaska, the less true this is. I lived right in the center of the state so I got 24 hours of daylight in the Summer but the early hours of the morning (midnight/5AM) was about Dusk. You didn't NEED to turn your headlights on to see while driving, but it was dark enough to where you legally needed them on so other people could see you.

In Winter, I had about 24 hours of kinda darkness. Much of the day was pitch black but between Noon/5pm it was like Dusk again. Not sunny, but not totally dark either...like a rainy day without the rain.

In the Spring/Fall, the days were normal with a day/night pattern.
 
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G

GaryA

Guest
#12
#12
Bushido8000 said:
Lived in Alaska for 7 years. Here's the scoop. Alaska is roughly the width/height of the Continental US. If you live in Northern Alaska, you get roughly 6 months of total daylight and 6 months of total darkness. The further South you get in Alaska, the less true this is. I lived right in the center of the state so I got 24 hours of daylight in the Summer but the early hours of the morning (midnight/5AM) was about Dusk. You didn't NEED to turn your headlights on to see while driving, but it was dark enough to where you legally needed them on so other people could see you.

In Winter, I had about 24 hours of kinda darkness. Much of the day was pitch black but between Noon/5pm it was like Dusk again. Not sunny, but not totally dark either...like a rainy day without the rain.

In the Spring/Fall, the days were normal with a day/night pattern.
Click to expand...
Just to make sure I understand this correctly -- you are saying [ nearly ] 6 months straight of total daylight and [ nearly ] 6 months straight of total darkness?

( As in - the sun comes up, and does not go down for 6 months - and - goes down, but is not seen again for 6 months? )

:)
 
Bushido8000

Bushido8000

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#13
Jan 24, 2012
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#13
GaryA said:
Just to make sure I understand this correctly -- you are saying [ nearly ] 6 months straight of total daylight and [ nearly ] 6 months straight of total darkness?

( As in - the sun comes up, and does not go down for 6 months - and - goes down, but is not seen again for 6 months? )

:)
Click to expand...
If you are in the far northern parts, yes.
 
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