Other than some gusty winds to start the weekend, things have been quite tranquil in the weather department as of late. It does look like the dry weather will continue at least into Monday and this bodes well to view this month’s full moon.
The term “supermoon” applies when the full moon occurs as the moon is passing closer to Earth than is typical.
You’ll once again hear two terms being thrown around in the next few days. The first will be “supermoon.” This is basically a popular term give to those times during the year when the moon is full and making a close pass to Earth. The second term is “king tides,” and more on that follows.
Sunday and Monday nights will each be perfect for viewing the supermoon. It’s also called the Beaver Moon this month. On Sunday, the moon will rise at about 4:15, just as the sun is setting. This means the moon will come up with a white hue because the sun still will be above the horizon. There still should be some great picture opportunities.
This supermoon will appear about 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than a typical full moon, it’s not as if the moon will cover that much more of the sky.
On Monday, the moon rises at about 5 p.m, just after the sun sinks below the western horizon. This should mean the moon will take on more or less an orange-yellow hue as it rises. Once again there should be some fantastic opportunities for picture taking.
The full moon will rise as the sun is setting Sunday and Monday
Technically, according to NASA, the moon’s closest pass comes at 6:21 a.m. EST Monday, when the center of the moon comes within 221,523 miles of the center of the Earth. The last time the moon came this close was back in January 1948; it was actually 29 miles closer that year. If you are wondering, the moon will come even closer, within 221,485 miles, in 2034.
With the moon so close, the pull from it – which causes our tides – will also be near its greatest of the year. This means more of those king tides, which are simply just astronomically high tides. While the tides will be higher than average for several tides, the peak high tide will occur Wednesday at noon. Let’s hope we don’t have any sort of storm that would facilitate beach erosion and coastal flooding.
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