Moon Phases December 2028 in Waterloo, Iowa

This month's full moon: the Cold Moon

The December full moon, when winter cold takes hold and nights are longest.

The Long Night Moon, for the night nearest the winter solstice, and the Moon before Yule are older names. It is the highest-riding full moon of the year in the northern hemisphere, opposite the low December sun.

Lore

December's moon comes with the deepest cold and the longest nights, hence the Cold Moon and Long Night Moon. In Anglo-Saxon tradition it was the Moon before Yule, and its light on snow made the long nights unusually bright.

Trivia

• The Cold Moon rides highest of all full moons in the northern hemisphere, opposite the low solstice Sun.
• Around the December solstice the full moon is above the horizon for more than 15 hours at 50 degrees north.
• The Cold Moon is usually the last full moon of the year, but some years a thirteenth follows it as a Blue Moon.

All Cold Moon dates ›

This month's full moon: 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.

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 Blue Moon dates ›

Gardening by the Moon in December 2028

• Dec 1 · Fruiting crops: Sow above-ground crops whose seeds form inside the fruit: beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, melons. Graft, repot and sow lawns.
• Dec 2 to Dec 8 · Root crops: Plant root crops and anything that overwinters: carrots, beets, potatoes, onions, garlic, bulbs, perennials, trees and shrubs. Prune to slow growth.
• Dec 9 to Dec 15 · Rest and tend: Rest days for the soil: weed, cultivate, turn compost, harvest crops for storage, prune to discourage regrowth, prepare beds. Avoid sowing.
• Dec 16 to Dec 23 · Leafy crops: Sow leafy crops and above-ground annuals whose seeds form outside the fruit: lettuce, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, celery, herbs. Transplant seedlings. Mow to encourage growth.
• Dec 24 to Dec 31 · Fruiting crops: Sow above-ground crops whose seeds form inside the fruit: beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, melons. Graft, repot and sow lawns.

Full planting calendar for December › · How gardening by the moon works

How to read this moon calendar

Each day shows the Moon as it looks from Waterloo at midday local time, with the illuminated percentage, moonrise and moonset. Days with a principal phase show the exact local time the phase occurs. Because the Moon moves about 50 minutes later each day, roughly once a month there is a date with no moonrise or no moonset at all.

The eight phases of the Moon