Solar Midnight

As we approach the first day of summer (Summer Solstice) and the longest day of the year for Southcentral Alaska (19 hours, 21 minutes), a short twilight remains in the north as our “nighttime”.

Anchorage is a major national and international hub and especially during the commercial seasons of summer, commerce continues 24 hours a day.

Here, cargo flights line up to land at Anchorage International Airport with a summer twilight silhouetting the enormous peaks of the central Alaska Range far to the north.

The rich glow is reflected in Cook Inlet, which has the 2nd highest tidal surge in the world, as a tugboat races for a rondevous with a loaded barge arriving at the Port of Anchorage.

“Solar Midnight” is that time when the sun is equidistant between dusk & dawn…2 a.m. when the sun is only -5° below the horizon.