FROM THE WEATHER CENTER
by John Simon
May 2022
BLUE MOON
According to Wikipedia, a “blue moon” is an additional full moon that appears within a given month. But, Space.com quotes NASA as saying that a “seasonal blue moon” is the traditional definition of a blue moon and refers to the third full moon in a season that has four full moons. Whilst the second definition — borne out of a misunderstanding of the first— is a “monthly blue moon” which refers to the second full moon within a single calendar month. “The monthly blue moon is nowadays considered the second definition of a blue moon rather than a mistake,” the site says.
The “Maine Farmer’s Almanac,” also called the third full moon in a season that had four full moons the “blue moon.”
The next blue moon will be seen on August 1 and 31, in 2023. There will also be a blue moon on New Year’s Eve in 2028.
The term “blue moon” is also used colloquially to mean a rare event, as in the phrase “once in a blue moon.”
Many people know “Blue Moon” as the title of the 1961 doo-wop song by the Marcels, which reached number one on the Billboard pop chart. The original song with that title was written in 1934 by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart.
Blue Moon is also the name of an ice cream and a beer, as well as a space ship and a card game.