When and where to see the Cold Moon 2027
The exact moment of full moon is Monday, December 13, 2027 at 11:09 AM in New York. The best night to watch is Monday, December 13, when the Moon comes up at 4:21 PM, low in the northeast, about 7 minutes before sunset. It climbs to about 75° above the horizon around 12:28 AM and sets around sunrise the next morning.
A full moon looks full for about three nights. From New York the Moon is 99% lit when it rises the evening before and 98% the evening after, and on those nights it rises 60 minutes and 70 minutes later each evening.
The Moon is at a declination of +26.4° this time, well north of the celestial equator, so for the Northern Hemisphere it rides high and stays up a long time. It sits in front of the stars of Taurus.
| City | Exact full moon (local time) |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Monday, December 13, 2027, 8:09 AM |
| New York | Monday, December 13, 2027, 11:09 AM |
| London | Monday, December 13, 2027, 4:09 PM |
| Berlin | Monday, December 13, 2027, 5:09 PM |
| New Delhi | Monday, December 13, 2027, 9:39 PM |
| Tokyo | Tuesday, December 14, 2027, 1:09 AM |
| Sydney | Tuesday, December 14, 2027, 3:09 AM |
Why is it called the Cold Moon?
The Cold Moon is the December full moon, the last of the year. The Old Farmer's Almanac describes it as the moon of the start of winter's cold, and the name is shared by several peoples. In old English usage it is the Moon before Yule.
It is also the full moon of the longest nights. Close to the winter solstice the full moon follows the path of the midsummer Sun, so it rises in the northeast, climbs higher than any other full moon and stays above the horizon for most of the long December night.
Other names for the December full moon
The almanac names are one tradition among many. Native American peoples used hundreds of moon names that followed their own local seasons, and the attributions below are those given by the Old Farmer's Almanac:
- Long Night Moon: Mohican
- Drift Clearing Moon: Cree
- Hoar Frost Moon: Cree
- Snow Moon: Haida and Cherokee
- Winter Maker Moon: Western Abenaki
- Moon before Yule: old English usage
December in nature and the sky
December brings the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year in the north. Snow and ice settle over northern lands, many animals hibernate or shelter, and the holiday season fills the nights with lights. The Geminid meteor shower, the year's richest, peaks in mid-December.
The December full moon crosses Taurus or Gemini, near Aldebaran, Castor and Pollux, and passes nearly overhead from the far south of the United States and North Africa.
Festivals on the Cold Moon 2027
Many of the world's calendars are lunar, so festivals around the globe fall on this same full moon. Dates below were checked against published calendars; where India and the US keep different dates, both are given.
Margashirsha Purnima and Dattatreya Jayanti
December 13, 2027
The Hindu full moon of Margashirsha, the birth anniversary of Dattatreya.
Unduvap Poya
December 13, 2027
Sri Lanka's December full moon holiday.
Bad luck for meteor watchers: the Geminids, the best shower of the year, peak on December 14, 2027, the day after full moon, so the bright Moon will hide all but the brightest meteors. The winter solstice follows on December 22.
Supermoon, micromoon or neither?
The Cold Moon 2027 is 368,131 km from Earth, centre to centre. That is neither a supermoon (closer than 362,500 km) nor a micromoon (farther than 405,000 km); it appears 4.4% wider than a full moon at the average distance. Of the 12 full moons of 2027, it is the 3rd closest. The biggest is the Wolf Moon at 357,635 km and the smallest the Buck Moon at 405,968 km.
The Cold Moon from the Southern Hemisphere
In the Southern Hemisphere December is early summer and the solstice brings the longest day. The December full moon there is the lowest of the year, skimming the northern horizon on short, warm nights. The full moon happens at the same instant worldwide; in Sydney it is Tuesday, December 14, 2027 at 3:09 AM, and the Moon climbs to about 29° there that night, compared with 75° from New York. South of the equator the Moon also looks upside down to northern eyes, with the dark "Man in the Moon" features flipped.
Before and after the Cold Moon
More: All full moon names · Moon calendar 2027 · Next full moon · Moon phase today