BARROW, Alaska (AP) -Say goodbye to darkness – at least for a while.

When the sun rose Tuesday over the continent’s northernmost community, it began a nearly three month stay. The last sunset of the season occurred at 1:50 a.m. Tuesday and the sun rose again at 2:56 a.m.

“Then it will stay above the horizon until Aug. 2, when the first sunset will take place,” said Gina Sturm of the National Weather Service office in Barrow.

Barrow is about 330 miles above the Arctic Circle. In winter, the sun sets in mid-November and the region is dark until late January.

Many in this town of about 4,500 welcome the transition to the midnight sun.

“It’s almost like coming out of hibernation,” resident Diane Martin said. “It brings us back to getting out and about.”

Ron Boynton, who’s been in Barrow 23 years, has had to figure out how to get enough sleep during the unrelenting daylight.

“So we all learn to adapt during the years, and each develop our own little tricks,” he said.

“Put foil on your bedroom windows, etcetera, but then if you have to get up during the night to go to the bathroom or something … you get the full sunlight coming in, and it can be hard to get back to sleep.”