Skies mostly clear for Halloween’s full, blue moon

(File photo via pixabay)

(File photo via pixabay)

This year a full moon will shine on Halloween night.

Not only will this be a full moon, the Farmer’s Almanac said, it will be a blue moon, or the second full moon to take place in a month, as well as the first full moon to shine on all time zones on Halloween since 1944.

Skies will be mostly clear so few clouds will be in the way to obscure the full moon, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

A full moon on Halloween generally happens every 19 years in a pattern called the Metonic Cycle. However, due to slight variations in the moon’s orbit and the number of leap days that occur over a 19-year time span the cycle can vary by a day or so, pushing the past three Halloween-time full moons in 1963, 1982 and 2001 back to Nov. 1, the almanac said.

In addition, any full moon on Halloween — which falls on Oct. 31 — would by definition be a blue moon because lunar cycles are only 29.5 days long.

The next full moon on Halloween will come in 2039, according to the almanac.

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