Sun sets in Utqiagvik for last time until 2018

Updated: November 20, 2017 Published: November 20, 2017

Lights of Utqiagvik are visible from a midday flight out of town., December 15, 2016. (Marc Lester / Alaska Dispatch News)

The sun went down in Utqiaġvik, formerly known as Barrow, on Saturday and will not come up again until 2018, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.

The northernmost town in America had a 52-minute day on Saturday. When the sun reappears on Jan. 22, the first day will be about 25 minutes long.

In the summer of 2018, Utqiaġvik will see continuous daylight from May 11 until Aug. 2.

Julia O'Malley

Anchorage-based Julia O'Malley is a former ADN reporter, columnist and editor. She received James Beard national food writing awards in 2024 and 2018, and a collection of her work, "The Whale and the Cupcake: Stories of Subsistence, Longing, and Community in Alaska," was published in 2019. She's currently a guest curator at the Anchorage Museum.