Photos: Winter solstice sunshine

Alaska light in midwinter is fleeting and important.

By Anchorage Daily News
Updated: December 22, 2022 Published: December 21, 2022

Frost and snow coat trees along the shore of Little Campbell Lake in Kincaid Park on December 20, 2022. (Marc Lester / ADN)

Winter solstice is Wednesday, sometime a bit after noon, Alaska time. The low-angle light of midwinter, when it’s not obscured by clouds or fog, lasts a few short hours in December and January. The golden light is an important signal to sun-starved northerners that the light will return. The sun will soon rise higher in the sky and be above the horizon longer.

Related: A guide to the winter solstice, shortest day and longest night of the year

The sun shines above a cloud layer that blankets Turnagain Arm on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022 in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

Hoarfrost covers branches of a tree on W. Ninth Avenue near downtown Anchorage on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

A pedestrian walks past icicles reaching towards deep snow near downtown Anchorage during a cold snap on winter solstice, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Hoarfrost-covered trees on Government Hill are backlit by the sun on Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 20, 2022. Wednesday is winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. (Bill Roth / ADN)

A flag flies at the Veterans Memorial on the Delaney Park Strip near downtown Anchorage as vapor rises from buildings and hoarfrost covers trees on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. With windchill, temperatures hovered around minus 13 degrees. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

A cloud layer blankets the lower Hillside on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022 in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

A sundog is visible in a view toward Fire Island from Point Woronzof on December 20, 2022. Sundogs form when sunlight refracts through icy clouds. (Marc Lester / ADN)

Sunlight peeks through above the ridges and below the clouds in this view from Midtown Anchorage on December 18, 2022. (Marc Lester / ADN)

The sun is visible through fog beyond hoarfrost-covered trees and downtown Anchorage on Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 20, 2022. Wednesday is winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Fog covers part of Anchorage east of downtown as the afternoon light hits the Chugach Mountains in this view from the beach at Point Woronzof on December 20, 2022. (Marc Lester / ADN)

A sun-tipped ridge top of the Chugach Mountains shows through a break in snow-covered spruce trees on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022. (Anne Raup / ADN)

A runner heads toward the coastal bluff at Kincaid Park on December 20, 2022. (Marc Lester / ADN)

People cross W. Seventh Avenue in downtown Anchorage on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. With windchill, temperatures hovered around minus 13 degrees. (Emily Mesner / ADN)