Full Moon March 2037: Worm Moon

The last full moon of winter, named for the earthworms and beetle larvae that appear as the ground thaws. Times convert to your time zone (showing UTC).

Worm Moon

Peak fullness (showing UTC)

Distance
356,751 km
Type
Supermoon
Moonrise and moonset for your city appear here once a location is set.

About the Worm Moon

The last full moon of winter, named for the earthworms and beetle larvae that appear as the ground thaws.

Another reading credits beetle larvae emerging from tree bark. The Crow Moon, Sap Moon and Lenten Moon are alternatives. When it falls before the March equinox it is the last full moon of winter; after it, the first of spring, which sets the date of Easter in the Christian calendar.

Look for the Worm Moon near the equinox rising almost due east and setting almost due west.

Lore

The March moon marked the thaw: the return of earthworms, robins and rising sap. In Europe it was the Lenten Moon when it fell before the equinox, or the Paschal Moon that fixes Easter when it fell after. Old lore watched it for signs of a late frost.

Trivia

  • Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21, so the Worm Moon or Pink Moon decides the date.
  • Some scholars trace the Worm Moon to beetle larvae emerging from bark rather than to earthworms.
  • The equinox full moon rises almost exactly due east.
Blue Moon

Second full moon of the month (showing UTC)

Name
Blue Moon (Worm Moon)
Distance
360,191 km
Type
Average
Moonrise and moonset for your city appear here once a location is set.

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 March 2037

PhaseDate 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.

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