The extreme sunlight patterns in Alaska are the stuff of legend. Wintertime brings 3-hour-long days and sunsets at 3pm, but after just a handful of spring months, summer offers the opposite: endless sunlight.
In this month of the solstice, the skies of KNOM country will remain bright constantly. On the summer solstice (Tuesday, June 20th this year) the sun will rise at 4:19am and set the following morning at 1:47, with bright twilight — bright enough to read a book outside — for several hours before sunrise again. The skies near Nome won’t become dark, at all, until mid-August, which means KNOM listeners will have to wait until just before Labor Day to see the nighttime stars again, just like every year.
photo above: The sun hangs low over the Nome port, past midnight on a June evening.