Blue moon on New Year's Eve

I was going to break the news that we'll have a blue moon on New Year's Eve, but Associated Press beat me to the punch. It's good when folklore is covered in the press, but not when the press steals my topic! In case you didn't know, a blue moon is the term for the second full moon in a month. December's first full moon was on December 2, and the second is tomorrow night.

What the AP won't tell you is that the first moon was the Full Cold Moon. The meaning is pretty obvious there! December is cold.

The second moon will be the Full Long Nights Moon. Again, I can see where that name came from. Although the winter solstice was on the 21st, our nights are still very, very long. The shortest days in December had nine hours and four minutes of sunlight. (The 19th, 21st and 23rd were all the same length.) On New Year's Eve, we'll have a whopping nine hours and eight minutes of sunlight. Spend those four extra minutes well! In comparison, our longest day was June 23 with fifteen hours and eighteen minutes of sunlight.

Happy New Year!