TIL: Barrow, Alaska

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Facts about Barrow

*Native name is Utqiagvik. (Pronounced UUT-kee-AH-vik)

*Barrow is the northernmost city in the United States, and the ninth northernmost city in the world. It is also mostly only accessible by airplane.

*Gasoline is expensive, as the price is set only once per year.

*It is 320 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

*When the sun sets here on Nov. 18 or 19, it doesn’t rise again for 65 days.

*Barrow is not connected by road to the rest of Alaska, even though it is the economic center of the North Slope Borough. Note: There is a town called Deadhorse that is connected, though. -lljk

*Barrow’s sister city is Ushuaia, Argentina

*Archaeological sites in the area indicate the Inupiat lived in this area as far back as 500 AD. A little over 60% of the population is Inupiat Eskimo.

*Scientists say the Arctic is warming twice as fast at the rest of the planet, and former North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta has called Barrow “ground zero for climate-change science.”

*It is the location of a plane crash that killed humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post on August 15, 1935

*On average, Barrow’s high temperature is above freezing only 120 days per year (average high of 40-50 F on it’s warmest days), while temperatures are at or below zero degrees 160 days per year. Wind chills can be below -70 F.

*Barrow was the setting a few different movies and tv shows: An Idiot Abroad, Big Miracle and even the NFL Network did a documentary on the Barrow Whalers football team.

*There are no vampires in Barrow, Alaska.
–…probably. But, polar bears do roam this city, and are one of the few animals known to actively hunt and eat humans.

Anyone live there currently or have been there? Stories to share?

Just something new I’m trying for the forums. Let me know what you think of it. And share your own TIL