UTQIAGVIK, Alaska — Let's take a trip to Utqiaġvik (Oot — kay-ahg — vik), Alaska, formerly known as Barrow, the northernmost city in the United States and over 3,600 miles away from us here in Hampton Roads.
Situated 320 miles north of the Arctic Circle and right on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, this city offers some of the most extreme weather experiences on the planet.
Average monthly temperatures vary drastically, but don't usually get very warm. During the summer months, temperatures hover only in the 40s and during the winter, they plummet to an average anywhere from -1 to -6 degrees from the months of December to March. But it can certainly get much colder than that.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in this town was a frigid -56 degrees!
The warmest temperature ever recorded here never even hit 80, reaching a record high of only 79 degrees.
Not only is it freezing during the winter, but there's also no sunlight, a phenomenon called polar night. From late November to late January, the sun doesn't rise above the horizon for about 65 days. But the opposite happens in the summer, when the sun actually never sets. This takes place usually around mid-May up until late July to early August.
This year, the last sunrise and sunset was on November 18th, with only 37 minutes of daylight and now sun won't rise again until January 22, 2025, at 1:13 in the afternoon, and will set only 53 minutes later at 2:05.
So, if you're willing to experience the frigid temperatures at top of the world, this might the place for you.