Lights out

Thanks to Marc Winkler for sending me this photo of Inuvik trees in early December. People are always asking me how dark it gets during the Winter in Yellowknife. I've blogged about the Northern darkness before, but for those of you who have just joined us it goes something like this: in Yellowknife on the the Winter solstice on Dec. 21 there are about five hours of daylight, meaning the sun rises at about 10 a.m. and sets around 3 p.m.

As you move farther North during Winter solstice season, the total number of hours of sunlight starts to decrease. Near the top of the Northwest Territories in Inuvik, where this photo was taken, I'm told there's no direct sunlight for at least a few weeks during the year's darkest days. As an illustration, this photo is believed to have been taken at 12:40 p.m. sometime during the first week of December.