Polar Night in the Northernmost Town

(smithsonianmag.com)

76 points | by Brajeshwar 9 months ago ago

22 comments

  • iambateman 9 months ago

    I spent four months in Sweden and the darkness was way different than I expected.

    For one thing, “day” felt less like “day” in the sense that the sun never fully rose, it just peeked above the horizon for a few hours.

    And for another, it was harder than I expected. For the first time in my life, I _felt_ a need for sunshine.

    • antupis 9 months ago

      It is kinda hard when there is no snow so it is really pitch black. Basically October-November sucks and then it gets easier.

      • lawn 9 months ago

        That's the big difference between the north of Sweden and the south.

        In the north of Sweden the winter is very nice as the snow reflects the light well and makes it a lot brighter, although as you say it's currently dark without snow, which sucks.

        But in the south you don't have as much snow, so the winter is mostly a very dark (and wet). The joke goes that there are only two seasons in the south: summer and autumn.

        • indoordin0saur 9 months ago

          I really do hate snowless winters. The northeastern US has had terribly brown winters lately. I'd rather it be 0C and snowy vs. a relatively mild 10C and brown.

          • walthamstow 9 months ago

            On the contrary, when it does snow in London it's a nightmare, and so I quite like our 5C brown/grey winters.

        • antupis 9 months ago

          Yeah, luckily southern Sweden has about 1-2 hours more daylight.

  • throwup238 9 months ago

    In the same vein brr.fyi has a great time lapse of an Antarctic sunset: https://brr.fyi/posts/sunset

    • kunagi7 9 months ago

      Thanks, I spent the whole day reading this awesome blog, thank you so much for posting it!

      I loved the articles about their daily life at the Pole, it feels surreal to see an almost regular building with kitchens, showers and other amenities on the South Pole.

    • macintux 9 months ago

      Thanks, I was coming to share that blog. There’s a plethora of interesting Antarctic content.

  • jader201 9 months ago

    I can relate to a lot of this article’s allure of winter, snow, and night, all three things I love.

    All of them bring a sense of calm, even when being outdoors. Snow literally makes being outside quieter.

    I’ve often felt like a weirdo for liking these three, but I don’t care. E.g. I also like DST causing the night to start earlier.

    To be clear, though, I also like other seasons, and while I don’t enjoy losing an hour at the start of Standard Time, by then I’m ready for the instant extra hour of sun before bedtime — much like I’m sure the people of Longyearbyen are ready for the end of polar night.

    • mb7733 9 months ago

      Just FYI you have standard time and daylight savings time mixed up. DST is in the summer and makes sunrise and sunset later.

    • theandrewbailey 9 months ago

      > E.g. I also like DST causing the night to start earlier.

      Um, DST causes night/sunset to happen later.

      • mp05 9 months ago

        Was the "um" really necessary? In case you didn't know (and I mean it in all earnestness), that is perceived as pretty rude.

  • xupybd 9 months ago

    The author has a really interesting YouTube channel with more on their life there.

  • aspenmayer 9 months ago
  • lowbloodsugar 9 months ago

    [flagged]

    • aspenmayer 9 months ago

      Low-effort post explicitly against HN guidelines.

      Advise hackernews to use uBlock Origin, or if not available on platform, AdGuard, Pi-Hole, or alternative means to block such things.

      Alternative archive link that may work better for some users/use cases:

      https://archive.is/XR7Z4

      • lowbloodsugar 9 months ago

        Thanks! That link worked great

      • lowereffort 9 months ago

        [flagged]

        • aspenmayer 9 months ago

          I posted alternative means to solve the problem presented in addition to my commentary. Many users don’t read submissions or the guidelines, so I’m not sure how I’m lower effort than either of you, which is beside OP’s point, yours, and my own.

          What were we talking about, again? Oh yeah, TFA.