The polar night lasts about 65 days — the sun sets in mid-November and rises in late January; the midnight sun then runs about 80 days from May into August.
In October 2016, residents voted — by six votes — to restore the Iñupiaq name Utqiaġvik, generally understood as "a place for gathering wild roots." One older tradition links the name to hunting snowy owls.
Why People Visit Barrow Alaska
Barrow offers Arctic culture, geography, and natural-light phenomena that few places on earth can match. Visitors come for the Iñupiat heritage, the tundra and Arctic Ocean horizons, the polar night and midnight sun, and the simple fact of standing in the northernmost city in the United States. It is remote, resilient, and unforgettable. History and everyday community life sit side by side at the top of the continent.
