Moon and cirrus clouds

01/10/12, about 8 pm, looking east

This is the full moon on Tuesday, January 10th at about 8 pm still rising above the trees in the east. The sky was covered with wispy cirrus clouds and as the moon emerged they began to glow with silvery moonlight.


January's full moon was called the Full Wolf Moon by native American Indians. From the Farmer's Almanac is the description of why it was so named:

Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule.

This moon painting is somewhat wolfish--reminds me of the fur of a gray wolf.


These cirrus clouds are the harbinger of wet weather forecast for tomorrow.