It’s coming this Friday evening at 9:36. You can see it during the day, but it’s much better to catch it at night. And it’s sure to make coyotes howl and yelp. No I’m not talking about Fright Nights at the Fair; it’s the October full moon.
Though Fright Nights might be a little extra spooky this night considering full moon superstitions. Check out the CNYcentral.com weather forecast found here to see if the weather will cooperate and allow the moon to be visible Friday evening.
According to Native American lore, the full moon found nearest the Autumnal Equinox is the Harvest Moon. They named it this because this time is when corn, beans, squash, wild rice and pumpkins are ready to be picked. This moon also has an interesting evening rise pattern around this date compared to other nights. You can read more on that in this article from the Farmers’ Almanac under the month of October.
The October full moon usually is called the hunter’s moon. That’s because in two out of three years the full moon nearest the Autumnal Equinox is in the month of September. Just not this year because of their dates. Native Americans in the northeastern United States began naming full moons to correlate with seasonal events.
This past year The Farmers’ Almanac had a contest to pick new names for full moons. Visitors to their website voted the 'Pumpkin Moon' as their new choice for this month. More on that story is found here.
