Lianna NormanUSA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
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There will be no more full moons this year.
The last full moon of 2024, nicknamed the cold moon or the snow moon, was on Sunday, Dec. 15, and it marked a significant astronomical event. Here’s when the first full moon of 2025 will be, what January’s full moon is called and why December’s full moon was a lunar rarity.
When was the last full moon in 2024?
Sunday’s full moon wasn’t just the last full moon of the year, it marked a lunar rarity that only occurs once every 18.6 years.
According to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, “Every 18.6 years, our moon reaches the extremes of its orbit around the earth… The moon rises and sets at its most northerly and southerly positions on the horizon.”
Meaning that on Sunday evening, the moon rose as far to the north as it ever does – an event that marks the beginning of a major lunar standstill.
What is the major lunar standstill?
Major lunar standstills are possible because the moon and sun don’t follow the same path across our horizon. And the moon’s orbit around the earth wobbles. The imperfectness of the moon’s orbit around earth means that it gradually rises and sets at different points across the horizon over the 18.6-year-period between Major Lunar Standstills.
In simpler terms: It takes just over 18-and-a-half years for the moon to wobble from south, to north and back.
Now that the moon has reached its northernmost position, it will stay positioned there for about two years – that’s where the “standstill” part of the name comes from. But that doesn’t mean it will appear at the same place in the sky every night for two years, the moon will still go through its phases.
“While this back and forth travel on the horizons occurs, we still observe the moon going through its familiar phases. That means each day the moon rises and sets in a slightly different phase and just less than an hour later in time,” The Griffith Observatory says.
“This can make observing the major lunar standstill challenging. The best standstill viewing is when the moon is full.”
December 2024 full moon: This cold moon featured a lunar rarity
Is the moon still going to be full tonight?
If you missed the full moon on Sunday night, don’t fret. The moon will still appear very full tonight, Monday, Dec. 16.
Why is the December full moon called the cold moon?
There are many names for each month’s full moon, according to what different native people across the globe have called it in the past.
December’s “cold moon” title comes from the Mohawk Nation. Descendants of the Mohawk Nation now live in reserves in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, and a reservation in northern New York, but once inhabited eastern New York's middle Mohawk River valley, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.
The Mohawk named December’s moon the cold moon to reflect “the frigid conditions of this time of year when cold weather truly begins to grip us,” according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Here are some other names for December’s full moon and their origins, from The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
- Drift Clearing Moon (Cree)
- Frost Exploding Trees Moon (Cree)
- Moon of the Popping Trees (Oglala)
- Hoar Frost Moon (Cree)
- Snow Moon (Haida, Cherokee)
- Winter Maker Moon (Western Abenaki)
- Moon When the Deer Shed Their Antlers (Dakota)
- Little Spirit Moon (Anishinaabe)
- Moon before Yule (Ancient European pagans)
What date in January 2025 is the full moon?
January’s full moon is called the wolf moon and will reach peak illumination around 5:27 p.m. EST on Monday, January 13, 2025, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
“It’s thought that January’s full Moon came to be known as the Wolf Moon because wolves were more likely to be heard howling at this time. It was traditionally believed that wolves howled due to hunger during winter, but we know today that isn’t accurate,” the almanac says.
“Howling and other wolf vocalizations are heard in the wintertime to locate pack members, reinforce social bonds, define territory, and coordinate hunting."
How many full moons will we have in 2025?
There are 12 full moons each year, one in every month. Each month’s full moon has a nickname or a variety of nicknames.
Here’s a list of 2025’s full moon dates:
- January 13: Wolf Moon
- February 12: Snow Moon
- March 14: Worm Moon
- April 12: Pink Moon
- May 12: Flower Moon
- June 11: Strawberry Moon
- July 10: Buck Moon
- August 9: Sturgeon Moon
- September 7: Corn Moon
- October 6: Harvest Moon
- November 5: Beaver Moon
- December 4: Cold Moon
