Today was the shortest day of the year. In Fairbanks, sunrise was at 10:50 A.M. and sunset was at 2:46 P.M., giving us 3 hours and 56 minutes of daylight. Since the Sun moves in a low arc across the southern sky, there is a decent amount of twilight on either end. Today’s photo was taken at around 1 P.M.
One nice thing about the shorter days is that the low angle of elevation of the Sun leads to greater atmospheric scattering of the sunlight. The sky is a little more purple than usual and the sunlight is more red than usual. It has a beautiful effect on snowy scenery. The lighted snow turns red, pink, and gold, while the shadowed snow turns blue or purplish. If you are in the right location, the color combination during a bright sunrise or sunset can be stunning.
