Tag Archives: Solstice

2 Seconds

Today Fairbanks will see 2 seconds more daylight than yesterday.

From 3 hours and 40 minutes to 3 hours, 40 minutes and 2 seconds.

That’s it.

That’s the post.


Happy Winter Solstice

Photo from the Alaska Digital Archives; Photo credit: P.S. Hunt

The above photo was taken at noon of the Winter Solstice in ’98, as in 1898. P.S. Hunt arrived in Alaska that summer from San Jose, California. It would appear that Hunt named the cabin after his previous hometown.


Way to go Chicken!!

The Chicken, Alaska weather station continues to impress. -63F is the coldest I have ever experienced in Fairbanks.

It was -41F at the cabin on Tuesday morning.


The end of civil twilight

The period of civil twilight+ came to an end in Fairbanks late last week. It was a run of 75 days of constant light. Basically, one can do anything outside without the use of artificial lights during civil twilight. Including baseball games!

It’s all downhill from here until December 21st.


A season in the life of a trail cam

Early September
Late September
Early November
Start of the Solstice Storm
A bit snowy
Winter Solstice afternoon
Evening on the Winter Solstice
Snow packed lens
Lens starting to break free of ice and snow
Late January visitor
February; The sun begins to return, and moose tracks

Dead battery….


Midnight Sun Baseball

117th Midnight Sun Game; First pitch 10pm

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Update: The Alaska Goldpanners won the game 10-9 in the 10th inning. The game ended at 1:40am ADT. The entire game is played without the use of the artificial lights. Sun power only.


Happy Summer Solstice

Image credit: @Climatologist49


Happy Winter Solstice

Path of the sun, Nome, Alaska December 21, no year given


The Midnight Sun Game

Alaska Goldpanners at bat at Growden Memorial Park, 12:02am June 22, 2021

The 116th Midnight Sun Baseball Game took place on Monday night. The first pitch for the annual Solstice event was fired off at 10pm. The game is played in its entirety without the use of artificial lights.

The seventh inning stretch usually lands around midnight, with the playing of the Alaska Flag Song. It’s quite the event, and brings out the largest crowd of the season for the Panners.

Growden Park was looking pretty good after some off season renovations, and the Goldpanners are fielding a decent team this year.

The Alaska Goldpanners have hosted the game since 1960, and have a dominating record of 47-14. In 2020, with the Goldpanners in hiatus, the game took place with a men’s league team losing to a Legion All-Star team. The game has never seen artificial light, and it has never been rained out.

On Monday/Tuesday, the Panners defeated the Everett Merchants 3-0.


How awkward

Data courtesy of NOAA and the U.S. Navy

The sun rose in parts of eastern Alaska on Sunday morning, before it had set in parts of western Alaska.


Happy Summer Solstice

The hike to Tolovana

The photo above, which I’ve posted on here before, was taken at midnight on a hike out to Tolovana Hot Springs. At the top of the pass, I took this photo, before dropping down into the hot springs. Most people trek out here in the winter months, by ski, dog sled or snowmachine. We hiked out in June, and it was a slog, but we had the springs to ourselves, which was an incredible few days. Very fond memories.

Fairbanks, in case anyone was curious, will see 21 hours and 49 minutes of daylight, with the rest of the 24 hours being filled in with civil twilight.

The camera, for the above photo, was an old Canon Canonet; the film I believe was Fuji, probably high speed.

May your days be long and filled with sunshine.

Happy Solstice