Blue Moon Eclipse (2010 Jan 02)

[bystander]

The definition of a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four full moons is more likely to be the same blue moon for everybody. It keeps the naming of moons (Harvest Moon, etc) more consistent with the equinoxes and solstices, it provides more consistent timing for various religious calendars, and it is also consistent with early folklore which gave a name to the moon according to its time in the year. A moon that came too early had no folk name (a blue moon), bringing future moons back in sync with the season.

Of course we aren't likely to change public opinion in this forum, but I still like the Farmer's Almanac definition better.

[Chris Peterson]

Of course we aren't likely to change public opinion in this forum...

That, of course, is really the key point. Definitions drift with time, and mostly the process is uncontrolled and uncontrollable. I suspect that "blue moon" as the second full moon in a month is here to stay for a while- not for any profound reason, but just because it caught the fancy of enough people.

[neufer]

Of course we aren't likely to change public opinion in this forum, but I still like the Farmer's Almanac definition better.

Problem is: we may need an almanac to know when that kind of a "blue moon" happens.

Old Farmers Almanac: Global cooling may be underway
Posted 9/9/2008 4:56 PM

By David Tirrell-Wysocki, Associated Press Writer
DUBLIN, N.H. — The Old Farmer's Almanac is going further out on a limb than usual this year, not only forecasting a cooler winter, but looking ahead decades to suggest we are in for global cooling, not warming.

Based on the same time-honored, complex calculations it uses to predict weather, the Almanac hits the newsstands on Tuesday saying a study of solar activity and corresponding records on ocean temperatures and climate point to a cooler, not warmer, climate, for perhaps the next half century. "We at the Almanac are among those who believe that sunspot cycles and their effects on oceans correlate with climate changes," writes meteorologist and climatologist Joseph D'Aleo. "Studying these and other factor suggests that cold, not warm, climate may be our future."

It remains to be seen, said Editor-in-Chief Jud Hale, whether the human impact on global temperatures will cancel out or override any cooling trend. "We say that if human beings were not contributing to global warming, it would become real cold in the next 50 years," Hale said.

For the near future, the Almanac predicts most of the country will be colder than normal in the coming winter, with heavy snow from the Ozarks into southern New England. Snow also is forecast for northern Texas, with a warmer than usual winter in the northern Plains.

Almanac believers will prepare for a hot summer in much of the nation's midsection, continuing drought conditions there and wild fire conditions in parts of California, with a cooler-than-normal season elsewhere. They'll also keep the car packed for the 2009 hurricane season, as the Almanac predicts an active one, especially in Florida.

But Editor Janice Stillman said it's the winter forecasts that attract the most attention, especially this year, with much higher heating prices. So, in line with the weather and economy forecasts, the Almanac includes information on using wood for heat: the best wood, how to build a fire in a fireplace, whether to use a wood stove and how to stay warm — all winter — with a single log. Here's the secret, popularized in 1777: Throw a log out an upstairs window, dash down the stairs and outside, retrieve the log, dash upstairs, throw the log out the window and so on. "Do that until you work up a sweat and you'll be warm all winter," said Stillman.

Last year, the Almanac correctly predicted "above-normal" snowfall in the Northeast — an understatement — and below-normal snowfall in the mid-Atlantic states.

New Hampshire, home of the Almanac, saw the most snow in 134 years and missed an all-time record by 2.6 inches. Established in 1792, the Old Farmer's Almanac is North America's oldest continuously published periodical. The little yellow magazine still comes with the hole in the corner so it can hang in outhouses. Boasting 18.5 million readers, this year's edition contains traditional tips on gardening and astronomical information and tide charts so accurate the government considered banning them during World War II, fearing they would help German spies.

The Old Farmer's Almanac is not to be confused with the Maine-based Farmer's Almanac, published "only" since 1818.>>