It’s getting dark at night now. The street lights are coming on around 1:00 am and it was dark last night at 2:00 am. The change happens so quickly. It is one of the most incredible things about living up here.
I’ve mentioned this before, but the daily change in the amount of sun during the transitional season between 24 hour sun and 24 hour dark (I hesitate to use 24 hour dark as that is misleading, even when we lose the sun completely we still have some light) is about 20 minutes a day. So every three days there is an hour more (spring) or less (now) sun above the horizon. When you think about it we go from 24 hour sun at the beginning of August to 12 hours about 6 weeks later, and no sun about 6 weeks after that.
I really love the way the light sculpts the landscape in this transitional season. Everyday, as the sun gets lower and lower on the horizon, the landscape changes. When I first got here and I had a daily commute to Nanisivik (where our office was located at the time) I was amazed at how the scene was different each and every day, some times jaw droppingly so. It was on one of these trips that I finally "got" the Group of Seven, or at least Lawren Harris. I remember a painting of his, I believe it is called "Baffin Island" or perhaps just "Baffin", (Harris visited the high Arctic on board the Nascopie) and one day I saw the scene before me. While nearing Nanisivik I looked across Strathcona Sound to the heights on the other side and the scene was exactly the same as his painting. Exactly, the same feeling that this great artist evoked with that work, was evoked by this great landscape.
I’ve never found the dark season to be overbearing, although there will be plenty of time to post about it, come November 6th. I find that the daily change of light until winter solstice makes it pass very quickly, and then the anticipation of the sun’s return along with the growing light turns the rest of the season into the blink of an eye. Since I’ve been here I’ve grown to resent writers who portray the dark season as though a curtain of darkness falls with the going of the sun and the time as endless night. Because of the sun is often just below the horizon we still have light, and there is probably only a couple of weeks that the stars are out 24 hours.
The sky during the dark season is an amazing array of blues and blacks, and the planets and stars look close enough to touch. So bring on the night, it is just one of the incredible spectacles of life in the Arctic. Bring it on.
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I’ve not visited your site for quite a few days. Glad I saw this post on the Arctic night! I enjoy winter and the cold to a certain degree but I do like the sun on snow. I think the dark might get me down. It’s wonderful to hear your joy of all the seasons up north!