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Polar night begins in Nuorgam

The sun set in Nuorgam, Finnish Lapland on Tuesday—and will not rise again until mid-January. Finland’s northernmost town is the first to start the long polar night.

Kaamos Tenolla
Kuva Tenon varrelta Poroniemen päältä Loppiaispäivältä. Viikko vielä ja sitten odotettu valoilmiö tulee taas esiin. Image: Antero Isola

Lapland’s polar night is starting this week, with Nuorgam the first town in Finland to experience the darkness. The sun went down on the town on Tuesday, and will not rise again until 17 January.

The town is located on the Norwegian border, and is the northernmost point of Finland, and therefore also the northernmost part of the European Union.   

Other towns in Finland will also feel the darkness, but some get off lighter than others—for example in Sodankylä, famed for the midnight sun film festival in the summer, the polar night lasts only four days.