After a two-month disappearing act, the sun finally rose in Barrow, Alaska, this week. All eyes turned to the horizon, children pressed their faces against windows, and some climbed on the roofs to see the appearance of the elusive sun, which does not rise in Barrow from Nov. 18 to Jan. 23.
But in a cruel twist, cloud cover blanketed the sky and blocked the view. No one in Barrow saw that bright orange ball of light and heat, which rose at 1:06 p.m. and then set at 2:13 p.m.
“The sky got bright, and turned red,” said David Anderson, the official in charge at the National Weather Service Office there. “But we didn’t see it. We’re feeling a little disappointed.”
Despite the sun’s no-show, celebrations erupted all over Barrow. Adults threw a tequila sunrise party, and children at the elementary school wore sunglasses and made paper plate masks painted to look like yellow suns. No one knows when the sun will finally appear. Cloud cover is forecast through next week.
But folks in Barrow don’t mind. Annie Enderle, 29, secretary at the elementary school, said: “Even if we can’t see the sun, we know it’s there.”
