"But isn't it always dark in Alaska?"

It's one of the most common statements that I most often hear when talking to others about Alaska.  Many have been here in the summer and know how light it is then, but the majority of non-Alaskans think that it is dark for the other 6 months of the year.

After close to a week of clouds and snow, we had a break in the weather yesterday and the sun came out after the clouds moved on.  With us now gaining 6 minutes a day of light, it is a noticeable difference after not seeing the sun for a few days.  At 9:36PM, I took a photo of the backyard to illustrate how much light we have.  And as I watched the sunset off to the northwest and the last light of day diminished behind the Talkeetna Range at nearly 11PM, it seemed like the right time to set the record straight about our daylight in Alaska.

There are many people that would have an interest in buying real estate in Alaska and relocating here, but dismiss the idea due to the fear that the perceived lack of daylight would be more than they could handle.

Born and raised in west central Minnesota, we were subject to large swings in daylight from the solstice in December to the solstice in June.  It wouldn't get dark in June until after 10PM!  We are way past that already...and it is the beginning of April.

After living here through a couple of winters now, I can absolutely say that there is less daylight per day here in the winter than in Minnesota.  But it is only for about 3 months...the remainder of the year we have so much more daylight per day than there.  A client mentioned the other day that we have 8 hours more daylight per day than we had in December...and she's right!  That's amazing when you think about it.

The following link is a reference to our current sunrise and sunset times.  http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=18  Check it out and put in your location to see how you compare to here.

Have a good week and be careful if you are going out to Arctic Man!

Greg