Doyle Rice

USA TODAY

The sun will set in Barrow, Alaska, on Friday. And it won't rise again until Jan. 22, 2017.

Located about 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the USA's northernmost city endures about two sunless months each winter, known as the polar night.

Because the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the sun in autumn and winter, areas north of the Arctic Circle — within 23.5 degrees of the North Pole — endure more than two months with the sun never rising above the horizon, according to Weather.com.

But it won't be completely dark during this period.

While most of the "day" will be pitch black, residents of Barrow will still have a few hours of what's known as "civil" twilight, which occurs when the sun is just below the horizon. During that time, there is still sufficient light to see objects outside, Weather.com said.

This civil twilight period is about six hours long in late November and early January, but shrinks to about three hours in the heart of the polar night just before Christmas, weather.com said.

And when the moon is full, it will also provide some nighttime light to Barrow.

With the lack of sunlight comes bitterly cold temperatures: The normal high temperature in Barrow in early December is about two degrees below zero, and the normal low is a nippy 14 below, according to the National Weather Service.

So far this year, however, the weather in Barrow and throughout Alaska has been anything but normal: Barrow just had its warmest October on record, and for the state as a whole, from January through October, 2016 is Alaska's warmest year on record, NOAA said.

The Arctic Ocean just north of Barrow is also not frozen, as it typically would be this time of year. Overall, Arctic sea ice set a record low for October.

And when the sun finally peeks above the horizon in January, the town may have a new name. Voters in mid-October began the process of changing the city's name from the English "Barrow" back to the native Inupiaq "Utqiagvik," according to the Alaska Dispatch News.

The name change would become official in early December if approved by the Alaska government.