Ledyard Skies Should Clear for Full Moon Dec. 25

By LANNING TALIAFERRO (Patch Staff)

Rudolph might be able to take a year off from Santa’s annual trek around the world this year. It seems the moon will be more than bright enough to stand in for his glowing red nose, and the gray skies should clear up so he -- and we -- can see it.

The experts at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center anticipate a near full moon Christmas Eve that will peak Christmas Day at 6:11 a.m. EST.

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And while Wednesday and Thursday will be rainy, the National Weather Service predicts that clouds should clear by Thursday night in Connecticut.

This will be the first time the full moon has made a Christmas Day appearance since 1977, The Weather Channel reported. The well-timed occurrence isn’t expected to repeat until 2034.

Like full moons in all other months, Native Americans have special names for December’s. The moon is known as the Oak Moon, Cold Moon or Long Nights Moon, according to Space.com. That website points out that the December full moon “rises around sunset and sets around sunrise; this is the only night in the month when the moon is in the sky all night long. The rest of the month, the moon spends at least some time in the daytime sky.”

Image via Shutterstock

Patch Editor Sherri Lonon contributed to this report.