![July’s Full Thunder Moon Will Crack Open NYC Skies With Light This Weekend](https://offloadmedia.feverup.com/secretnyc.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/19044907/Full-moon-with-lightning-1024x683.jpg)
This month’s full moon will brighten NYC skies on Sunday, July 21st, weather permitting. The best time to catch it in all of its glory will be just after sunset, even though it will actually reach peak illumination earlier in the day at 6:17am. This is because it will be below the horizon at the time of peak illumination, therefore it won’t be visible then, explains The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Full moons, or more so the whole lunar months themselves, tend to have alternative names based on who is using the term and what the name is referring to it (be it plants, weather or animals). And though July’s full moon is more commonly called the Buck Moon, we think Thunder Moon, hailing from Western Abenaki sounds much cooler!
It’s referred to as the Buck Moon because buck’s antlers are fully grown by this time of year. Why it’s alternatively called the Thunder Moon has to do with the stormy weather of the season—remember Wednesday’s raging lightning? Additional names for the July full moon include the Salmon Moon, Berry Moon, the Month of Ripe Corn Moon, and so on.
The next full moon won’t occur until August 19th, which will be the Sturgeon Moon. However, the Perseid meteor shower, a magnificent show of shooting stars, has arrived and here’s how you can see it now!