The full moon in February, called the Snow Moon, has technically passed its peak in the UK skies, but it is still bright and almost perfectly round. People who missed it before can still see it before it starts to shrink.
The Snow Moon has reached its peak, but it still looks full.
The Royal Observatory Greenwich says that the Snow Moon was at its brightest at 10:09 PM UK time on Sunday. At that exact moment, the moon was fully lit and directly across from the sun.
You still have a chance if you missed that exact time. The full moon phase lasts longer than the calendar says it does. The lunar disc still looks round to the naked eye for a day or two before and after the peak.
If the weather stays clear, the Snow Moon will still look very full in the UK skies for at least one more night.
The moon will go from a full moon to a waning gibbous moon over the next few nights. The lighted area starts to get smaller on the right side, but to most people who aren’t paying close attention, it still looks great, especially when it rises above the rooftops after dark.
The Snow Moon is the name for February’s full moon.
The full moon in February is often called the Snow Moon because of the harsh winters in northeast North America. NASA says that Native American communities came up with the name because February always brought heavy snow and bad weather.
Over time, the same moon has been called by different names:
Storm Moon: connected to storms in the winter and bad weather
Hunger Moon is a name for the time of year when food is hard to find and hunting is hard in late winter.
These names show how people used the moon cycle as a natural calendar long before smartphones and wall planners were invented. Everyone knew that the full moon meant the season was at a certain point: snow was piling up, supplies were running low, and winter wouldn’t let go.
How the names of Native American moons changed the calendar we use today
A lot of the nicknames for the full moon that are used in headlines and on social media come from Native American tribes, especially those in the northern and northeastern parts of the United States. They paid close attention to the sky, linking each full moon to things that happened in nature, like harvests, animals, or the weather.
Later, colonial settlers used these words, and they slowly spread to other parts of English. Astronomers, planetariums, and weather forecasters use the names today as a simple way to keep people interested in what’s going on in the sky.
The names are cute, but they are based on a useful system: the moon worked like a seasonal clock, helping people plan when to hunt, plant, and gather.
A quick look at the full moons of the year
| Month | Full moon name | Seasonal meaning |
|---|---|---|
| January | Wolf Moon | Wolves howling in midwinter, when food was scarce |
| February | Snow Moon | Deep snow and harsh conditions |
| March | Worm Moon | Worm trails reappearing as frozen ground thaws |
| April | Pink Moon | Named for early blooming wildflowers, not colour |
| May | Flower Moon | Widespread blossoming as spring takes hold |
| June | Strawberry Moon | Linked to strawberry harvests in North America |
| July | Buck Moon | Male deer regrowing their antlers |
| August | Sturgeon Moon | Abundance of sturgeon fish in late summer rivers and lakes |
| September | Full Corn Moon | Late-summer crop harvesting, often into the night |
| October | Hunter’s Moon | Bright evenings supporting seasonal hunting |
| November | Beaver Moon | Period of beaver trapping or dam building |
| December | Cold Moon | Long, cold winter nights; also called Long Night Moo |
In cities, light pollution can make faint stars hard to see, but it doesn’t do much to dim the full moon. The moon disc is still bright and easy to see, even when there are street lights.
The easiest way to see the Snow Moon is to go outside for a few minutes and look at it with your own eyes.
Binoculars, telescopes, and what you’ll really see:
NASA says that binoculars are the best way to look at things casually. With a small pair, you can see craters, dark lava plains (the maria), and some of the bigger mountain ranges.
A small telescope in the backyard gives you a very different view. The full moon no longer fits comfortably in the field of view when the magnification is high. Instead, the surface turns into a landscape of peaks, valleys, and long channels called rilles, which were made by old volcanic flows.
A stable tripod and basic binoculars are easier to use than a telescope for a lot of beginners. You don’t have to fight with your gear as much, so you can spend more time just looking at the details on the moon’s surface.
What is a Blue Moon and why do people talk about it?
A Blue Moon is when there is “an extra” full moon on the calendar. It takes the moon about 29.5 days to go from one full phase to the next. So, twelve cycles add up to about 354 days, not 365.
Because of this, we have to fit in a thirteenth full moon about every two and a half years. A Blue Moon is the name for that extra one. This word is also used when there are two full moons in one month.
The phrase “once in a blue moon” comes from this strange timing quirk, which means that the event happens sometimes but not very often.
The moon doesn’t really turn blue during these events, even though that’s what it’s called. A moon that really looks blue is much less common and is caused by things like fine dust or volcanic ash in the air.
Making your own small lunar watch
If you want to make the Snow Moon into a small event, the practical things you need are easy to get. If you’re going to a park or hilltop, bring warm layers, a clear horizon, and maybe a flask of something hot. A phone camera won’t be able to capture everything that the eye sees, so many people see it as a moment rather than a chance to take a picture.
Parents sometimes use the full moon to get their kids interested in science. A quick game of “spot the shapes” on the surface can work surprisingly well. Some people see a “man in the moon,” while others see a rabbit, a face, or a map of dark seas and bright highlands.
Important words that help you understand the Snow Moon
The words that describe the moon can sound technical, but a few ideas can help a lot:
The full moon is when the moon is directly opposite the sun and the side facing Earth is fully lit.
When the moon is full, the lit part slowly gets smaller each night. This is called the waning gibbous phase.
The lunar cycle is the time it takes for the full moon to go from one to the next, which is about 29.5 days.
Rilles are long, narrow valleys or channels on the surface of the moon that were made by old lava flows or the movement of the crust.
By learning these words, you can turn the Snow Moon from a passing headline into something you can follow and look forward to. After a few months, you start to notice patterns, like how the moon’s path in the sky changes, how its rise time gets later, and how its light changes the mood of an evening walk.
In the UK, February can feel like a long, grey wait for spring for a lot of people. The Snow Moon is a short, bright spot in the winter, and you still have time to go outside and watch it silently glide over chimneys, trees, and tower blocks before it disappears into the darker parts of the month.
