Antarctica goes dark! Long nights arrive to southern latitudes

And just like that Antarctica goes dark! Well, to be fair it also happened above the Arctic Circle in the winter. Every time a season changes, daylight hours increase or decrease depending on the hemisphere.

In this case, the Southern Hemisphere is moving into its coldest months as the Earth tilts will provide less sunshine to this hemisphere. But also, Antarctic Circle, the parallel latitude on the Earth at about 66.5degrees south of the equator will experience no daylight for the next 6 months.

As you go to deeper latitudes, you receive less daylight in the fall and much less or zero in the winter.

As spring progresses and we move into the summer months, the northern hemisphere gains more daylight. In fact, the sun rose at the North Pole on the Spring Equinox, which just happened on Sunday, March 20, 2022. They received their first ray of the sun since they went dark in September.

The Arctic region gains over 6 minutes of daylight every day and by June 20, “their day” lasts about 21 hours and 44 minutes. That’s a lot of daylight!

In the Antarctic, the same is true but opposite. The South Pole gets its longest night in June and longest day in December.

So, for our friends in Antarctica (mostly researchers and scientists) hold on tight, winter is coming!