Residents of Utqiagvik, Alaska, have watched the sun set for the last time in 2025 as the community enters its annual Polar Night. For the next 64 days, the northernmost town in the United States will live without direct sunlight, a dramatic seasonal shift caused by Earth’s 23.5-degree axial tilt.
Utqiagvik sits at 71.17 degrees north, deep inside the Arctic Circle. Its location blocks the sun from rising above the horizon until late January. Although the community will not experience total darkness, daylight will shrink to a few hours of civil twilight, providing a cold blue glow instead of a sunrise.
The loss of sunlight will send temperatures sharply lower, since the ground and air receive no daytime heating. This extended dark season helps drive the formation of the polar vortex, a huge mass of cold, dense air that spins over the Arctic. The vortex sometimes weakens and breaks, pushing frigid air south into the lower 48 states.
Life continues normally in Utqiagvik. The town’s 4,400 residents have adapted to extreme winters and bright summers. They endure two months of darkness each year but enjoy nearly three months of round-the-clock sunlight in summer.
The next sunrise will arrive on January 26, 2026.
