When to Watch the February “Snow Moon”
The winter in the United States in 2021 was harsh, with snow covering the entire east coast and ice spreading south all the way to Texas, causing the power grid to shut down. A respite from the cold hell is to be welcomed, and it comes in the form of a very large full moon on the evenings of February 26th and 27th. Although this moon is officially called “Snow Moon”, it is not an omen of cold weather. ahead, but this is a sign that warm spring days are approaching.
What is a snow moon?
This old name, popularized by the Farmer’s Almanac , is so named because it occurs every year during February, which is usually the snowiest month in the Northern Hemisphere. Although it is now an official designation recognized by NASA , other names have been given to this particular moon throughout history, especially by Indian tribes.
Farmer’s Almanac lists some other names associated with the February full moon:
Moon names for this month are historically associated with animals. The Cree traditionally call it Bald Eagle Moon or Eagle Moon . The Ojibwe bear moon and the Tlingit black bear moon date from the birth of the cubs. The Dakota also call it the Raccoon Moon , some of the Algonquin peoples called it the Groundhog Moon , and Haida called it the Goose Moon .
But no matter what you choose to call it, the Snow Moon is a February full moon that will manifest in all its glory on February 27 at 3:17 a.m. ET, when it will peak opposite the Sun at Earth longitude.
How to see the snowy moon
There are no magic ticks here – all it takes is to stay up late enough to catch the moon hanging in the sky, provided the weather is clear enough to stay awake. The moon will rise around sunset on Feb.26 and peak at around 3:17 am ET the next morning. However, it peaked at midnight on Saturday 27 February for East Coast observers.
It will be present for longer than usual as the February moon is basically a mirror image of the August sun.
As Ertski explains :
Since the Moon is opposite the Sun in close proximity to the full moon, any full moon mimics the path of the sun for six months … In the Northern Hemisphere, the February full moon (like the August sun) follows a high path. summer sun and therefore stays out of the house for more than 12 hours.
This is the sign of the end of winter
The snowy moon is a harbinger of spring fun (at least we hope, given that the weather these days is not at all predictable). Due to the rotation of the Earth at this time of year, the southern hemisphere is gradually losing sunlight, while the northern hemisphere is gradually gaining it. The March Equinox (March 20) is the point at which both hemispheres reach equal daylight, given the position of the sun as it rises in the east and sets in the west.
As Ertski notes, since the Snow Moon is the last full moon before the March equinox, it is, in a sense, the peak of winter lunar time and therefore a sign that warmer and sunnier days are approaching on the horizon.