Question about darkness in AK

[7 Wishes]

I noticed that Kodiak's December sunset times and June sunrise times are actually similar to that of the Northeast US (i.e. Boston, NYC) but it's the December sunrise time and June sunset time that is 2 hours later respectively, accounting for all of the difference in daylight. Weird!

[north2AK]

Originally Posted by Mysticamia

Hi there, does Kodiak Island AK experience mostly dark days in the winter like other areas of AK and can you see the Aurora from there? Ty.

I"ve never been to Kodiak Island, but was able to see the Aurora in Skagway (which is only 2 degrees or so further north in latitude). Although southeast AK is not the ideal place for Aurora viewing (for similar reasons, weather and topography) ..


We had a pretty good show the end of summer/early fall I was there. This woul'dve been late Sept., first week of Oct. at the latest. for a few nights in a row it was spectacular.


Northern lights is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. I hope to see it again. Still or video images don't do it any justice at all.


I never spent the winter in Skagway...but because it's in a valley, I"ve heard on the darkest winter day...only about 15 minutes of direct sunlight, depending on where you stand.


if you are contemplating a job or a visit to anywhere in AK....I"d say you have a better change of seeing the Aurora up there than say, Oklahoma.



Any excuse to visit Alaska, go for it.

[RayinAK]

The Auroras should show in Kodiak on high auroral activity, but not the rest of the time. One time years ago when in the northernmost areas of NY, the Auroras were in full display. But I only saw that event one time.

[rwjoyak]

Aurora displays have always fascinated me, so I've done quite a bit of reading about them. Check this out - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859 - about an 1859 event that was so bright that the aurora was very visible as far south as Mexico and Hawaii. Here's a couple more online articles about this event - https://www.history.com/news/a-perfe...rrington-event and Solar Storm 1859. A little off the topic of this thread, but fascinating to think how strong the aurora can be and what such an event would do to today's electronic/communication systems.

[Parnassia]

The first time I saw the aurora was in N Dakota during the summer. No real color, mainly white and very pale green/blue. It was quite a surprise, only predicted because of a super high level solar flare event. But, it was far south enough to have a dark summer night, and being mid continent more likely to be clear enough. The coasts are cloud covered more often.