Full Moon January 2037: Wolf Moon
The first full moon of the year, named for the wolves heard howling through the long, cold January nights. Times convert to your time zone (showing UTC).
Peak fullness (showing UTC)
- Name
- Wolf Moon
- Distance
- 364,122 km
- Type
- Average
About the Wolf Moon
The first full moon of the year, named for the wolves heard howling through the long, cold January nights.
The name is usually traced to Native American and early colonial almanacs, which tied each full moon to what was happening in nature. Midwinter hunger and mating season made wolves unusually vocal in January. Other names for the same moon include the Old Moon, Ice Moon and, in some Anglo-Saxon traditions, the Moon after Yule.
January full moons ride high in the northern sky and stay up longest of any full moon in the year, so this is a good one for clear, cold-night viewing.
Lore
In parts of Europe the January moon was the Moon after Yule, and in Celtic tradition the Quiet Moon, a time for staying close to the hearth. The howling wolves of the name were once a real winter hazard in North America and Europe, and the name kept that memory alive long after the wolves were gone.
Trivia
- The Wolf Moon is the highest-riding full moon of the year in the northern hemisphere, opposite the low January Sun.
- In 2018 the Wolf Moon was a supermoon and the first of two full moons that month, making January 31 a Blue Moon.
- Names differ by tradition: the Cree called the January moon the Cold Moon.
Second full moon of the month (showing UTC)
- Name
- Blue Moon (Wolf Moon)
- Distance
- 358,080 km
- Type
- Supermoon
About the Blue Moon
A second full moon in one calendar month. It happens about every two and a half years and has nothing to do with color.
The monthly definition became popular after a 1946 Sky and Telescope article misread the Maine Farmers' Almanac, which used an older seasonal rule: the third full moon in a season that has four. Both definitions are in use today. The phrase "once in a blue moon" predates both and simply means rarely.
Because the calendar month decides it, a Blue Moon in one time zone can be an ordinary full moon in another when the full moon falls within hours of midnight on the first or last day of the month.
Lore
The phrase once in a blue moon is older than any astronomical definition and originally meant something absurd or never. The modern rule, a second full moon in one calendar month, spread from a 1946 magazine article and a 1980s radio programme. Genuinely blue-looking moons have been seen after huge volcanic eruptions and forest fires, when smoke particles scatter red light.
Trivia
- Monthly Blue Moons happen about every 2.7 years.
- The older seasonal rule calls the third full moon of a season with four the Blue Moon.
- After Krakatoa erupted in 1883 the Moon appeared blue or green for nearly two years.
All moon phases in January 2037
| Phase | Date and time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| Full Moon | |
| Last Quarter | |
| New Moon | |
| First Quarter | |
| Full Moon |
See the whole month day by day on the moon phases calendar for your city.