At this high latitude (64.84º N), day lengths are the same as everywhere else on the planet: 24 hours. Night lengths, however, are highly variable during the year. Yes, I am being pedantic, because with both statements being true, that means that day lengths vary too, right?

Right. Actually, the first definition of day is “The time of sunlight”(Oxford English Dictionary), and only the second definition is its use as a 24-hour period of time.

Sunlight highlights the edges of a paper birch.

With the period between sunrise and sunset varying so much through the year, we come to focus on this length with great intensity. And so each day we listen eagerly to the light report to learn what physics and gravity and our solar system have either gifted us with (in spring) or stolen from us (in autumn). At this time in February, we are deeply appreciative of the gift side of the equation, with day lengths increasing by almost 7 minutes a day.*

And so there is usually a daily light report on the radio, telling us, today, for example, that “the sun rose at 8:31 and will set at 5:42, giving us nine hours and eleven minutes of possible sunlight, an increase of six minutes and forty-eight seconds over yesterday.”

In just one week, these changes add up to become very noticeable. It is light again when we go to work and when we come home, and we’ve been going through weeks of some of the most spectacular sunsets we’ll see all year. And the quality of the light is different, too. With the sun rapidly getting higher in the sky, the brightness factor has gone way up, so that probably most people in Fairbanks have had to find the sunglasses that they put somewhere when last needed last fall.

In case you want to see the light report online (I could not find a recording), you can find it with NOAA here or in another format here.

*Yes, using both definitions of day in one sentence, my little English gift to you, my many – at least five – readers who appreciate such things.