Not one town, but a few places where this happens
It isn’t just one town where the sun vanishes for months. It happens in a handful of places close to the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, where Earth’s tilt keeps the sun below the horizon for part of the year. Tromsø in Norway is a well-known example. Utqiaġvik (Barrow) in Alaska is another. In these places, people can go weeks to months without seeing the sun rise, even though daylight can still show up in other forms.
The key is geometry, not weather. Earth is tilted about 23.5 degrees, and as the planet orbits the sun, one hemisphere leans toward the sun while the other leans away. If you’re far enough north or south, that lean can keep the sun’s daily path entirely below your local horizon for a stretch of winter.
Why “no sun” doesn’t always mean “pitch black”
During polar night, the sun doesn’t rise. But the sky often isn’t fully dark all day. There can be long periods of twilight, especially in places that are near (but not deep inside) the Arctic Circle. The sun sits just below the horizon and still lights the atmosphere. Snow and ice bounce that light around, so a landscape can look strangely “daylit” even when the sun never appears.
One detail people tend to overlook is that “sunrise” is defined by the sun’s upper edge crossing the horizon, not its center. Add atmospheric refraction, which bends sunlight slightly, and the timing gets even messier. In practice, the exact start and end of the sunless period depends on definitions, local horizon shape (mountains matter), and how you count refraction.
A concrete example: Tromsø’s sunless stretch
Tromsø sits well above the Arctic Circle at about 69°N. In midwinter the sun stays below the horizon for weeks. Locals still get a slow, dim brightening around midday when clouds cooperate, because twilight can linger for hours. A clear day can feel “open” even without direct sun, while an overcast day can turn the same time window into a flat, gray gloom.
The geography of the view matters more than visitors expect. A town can have “polar night” by the astronomical definition and still have hills or buildings blocking the brightest part of twilight. Or the reverse: a low, open horizon over the sea can make the returning sun feel earlier because you see the first sliver the moment it clears the waterline.
What changes as you go farther toward the pole
Latitude controls the length of the sunless period. The closer a place is to the pole, the longer the winter stretch without sunrise. That’s why Utqiaġvik in northern Alaska has a much longer polar night than Tromsø. It isn’t a sudden switch at the Arctic Circle, either. Cross that line and you can get at least one full day each year with no sunrise, but the duration grows gradually as you head north.
Time of year matters in a specific way. Around the winter solstice, the sun’s apparent position changes very slowly from day to day. So if the sun is just barely below the horizon, it can take a surprisingly long time to climb back into view. People often expect a quick turnaround after the solstice, but the geometry makes the return feel delayed.
How people keep time when the sun isn’t a reliable cue
Daily life doesn’t stop, but the cues shift. Work and school still run on clocks, yet the body’s sense of “morning” and “night” can get fuzzy when outdoor light barely changes. Indoors, artificial lighting becomes the strongest signal of day versus evening. Outdoors, weather can dominate. A clear polar night can look bright under snow and moonlight, while a storm can make midday feel like late evening.
Even the sky has its own patterns when the sun is missing. Stars and planets are visible for long stretches, and auroras can become a regular backdrop when conditions are right. On some days the most noticeable “sun event” is simply the brief moment of deepest blue in the twilight band, when the atmosphere scatters what little indirect light is available and then lets it fade again.
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