Land of Midnight Sun skies Lit by multiple Hues of summer Sunsets

Land of Midnight Sun skies lit by multiple hues of summer sunsets are a thing to see – sometimes happening in shades of color that defy the words of any language to adequately describe either their beauty or their complexity to the human eye.

A Yukon summer sunset

Many’s the summer evening I’ve sat in the solitude of my mountain cabin watching our Midnight Sun drift towards a setting beyond the northwestern mountains, dipping itself between strands or layers of clouds littering both the sky and that horizon before burying itself from literal sight beyond distant peaks.

And then the stunning light show of northern summer sunsets really begins.

Colors of a Yukon Sunset

Depending on factors as simple as the clarity of the air at the time, or as complex as those caused by moisture, contaminants or drift smoke from distant forest fires intervening themselves in the atmosphere, the light show will start to blaze on the horizon and clouds of the sky in brilliance’s of yellow, red and orange hues such as to stun you body, mind, and soul into the utter quiescence of awe.

And then you get to watch those shades of infinite color dance their indescribable glory across the sky, for periods of time long enough that you might even begin to question whether time really exists at all.

Sunset in the sky, darkness upon the Land

That’s because there’s another major factor at work up here when it comes to sunsets like I’ve just feebly attempted to describe or even show you with these pictures. We’re referred to as the Land of the Midnight Sun for a reason, and it’s not only because the further north you go in the summer the longer the sun takes to set. Go far enough north and it never sets at all in the summer.

What distinguishes the kind of sunsets I’m describing from my location in southern Yukon, is the incredibly long period of time that they last for us to watch and cherish those often fiery and always changing displays of vivid color.

At our latitude the sun actually does set behind those distant mountains I’ve referred to, but because the angle of reflection is so shallow beyond them the light show continues in the skies far longer than in deeper southern climes, where sunset is swiftly followed by the clang of deep darkness dropping its black door on the visible.

Here in my neck of the north-land vestiges of light continue to adorn the horizon all through the short hours of semi-darkness that briefly drape their cloak of deep shadow on the earth, before another early sunrise spears its blinding shafts of light over it to once more dispel those shadows. And so the summer cycle of blinding sunrise leading itself again to the glory of another brilliant sunset goes from day to day.

Like I said, Land of Midnight Sun skies lit by multiple hues of summer sunsets do happen across our evening skies, but you’ll need to come see them for yourself to believe their stunning beauty.