TRI-STATE AREA -- Happy Halloween, folks!
Ghostly goblins, tricks, and yes, even treats. The autumnal celebration of Halloween embraces many once-a-year-style features for camaraderie among friends both young and old.
So, as a weather guy, aside from folks asking if their child’s costume should include mittens, people that love Halloween often ask me about … the moon! A full moon on Halloween adds to the effect of the holiday – just like in the movies, right?
The last time we had a full moon on Halloween night was in 2001. It was 46 years earlier when the 1955 Halloween full moon was glowing brightly. In other words, the odds of a full moon on Halloween aren’t great. It takes the moon 29.5 days to cycle completely from one full moon to the next, thus having that full moon on any specific date is tricky.
To give you an idea of where we’re at in the moon’s cycle, our last full moon, known as the Hunter’s Moon, occurred at 9:06 on the evening of October 11th. We’ll be coming off a new moon, when you don’t see the moon at all, just 5 days before Halloween night. That means you’ll just see a crescent-shaped sliver of the moon for Halloween. The next full moon will then happen on November 10th.
The next official Halloween full moon will be in 2020. The good news is that the moon still “appears” to be full a day or two on either side of an official full moon night. So, this at least widens the chances of getting to see an “almost” full moon!
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