Winter solstice is Wednesday, sometime a bit after noon, Alaska ... to sun-starved northerners that the light will return. The sun will soon rise higher in the sky and be above the horizon longer.

(AP Photo/Laura Rauch) At 2:16 a.m., the sun finally dipped below the horizon, marking the first official night in 83 days for Utqiaġvik, Alaska, the northernmost town in the United States.