January skies and amazing color

The skies and color in wintertime can be quite spectacular in the interior of Alaska, day and night. There is little daylight, and the Sun rises and sets at a shallow angle making for an incredibly long “golden hour” when the Sun is near the horizon allowing for brilliant colors in the sky. With all that nighttime, aurora watching is nice too. Here are a few highlights from the first month of the year.

On January 1st I took the dog for a walk up on Ester Dome. The sunset was pretty spectacular.

Looking out over the city of Fairbanks

The Moose Mountain ski area hiding in the background

Watching the sunrise from our backyard.

Immaculate Conception Parish from across the Chena River in Golden Heart Park. This was taken at 9:15 am Alaska time which is still about 45 minutes from sunrise. The sun was starting to come up behind me in the southeast and the clouds were already well-lit casting a bit of pinkish-orange on the very much blue-violet twilight to the north.” alt=”Immaculate Conception Parish from across the Chena River in Golden Heart Park. This was taken at 9:15 am Alaska time which is still about 45 minutes from sunrise. The sun was starting to come up behind me in the southeast and the clouds were already well-lit casting a bit of pinkish-orange on the very much blue-violet twilight to the north.

At Golden Heart Park in Downtown Fairbanks.

From the Musher’s Hall on Farmer’s Loop

Took a nice walk under the aurora

It turned out to be a long walk. Some clouds rolled in, but it was still pretty strong.

The next morning the Sun rose, as normal.

Stunningly, stupidly gorgeous

More skies and color

Had a great view of the crescent moon “hanging out” over the Alaska Range on the morning of the 27th

and again on the 28th

Contrails across the sky – next to the Museum of the North

Beautiful glow on the horizon

Even when it’s foggy, there is the sky. Looking across the Tanana Valley into the Alaska Range.