The Cold Moon, December’s full moon, reaches full at 11:09 a.m. EST (16:09 UTC) on Monday, December 13, 2027. It is the last full moon of 2027 and the highest-riding, staying up about 16 hours in New York.
The Cold Moon is the traditional name for the full moon of December. In 2027, it reaches full in the late morning of Monday, December 13, in every US time zone, eight days before the winter solstice.
Because the full moon sits opposite the low December Sun, it follows the highest and longest path of any 2027 full moon: in New York it climbs about 75 degrees above the horizon and stays above it for almost 16 hours on the night of December 13.
It is also the third-closest full moon of the year, and it arrives one day before the peak of the Geminid meteor shower, whose light will largely wash it out.
This page gives the exact time in every US time zone, moonrise times for four US cities, the Cold Moon dates from 2026 to 2031, including two coming total lunar eclipses, and where the name comes from.
Table of Contents
When is the Cold Moon 2027?
The Cold Moon 2027 is full at 16:09 UTC on Monday, December 13, 2027, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. Moonblink gives 16:08:41 UTC, which rounds to the same minute.
The table below converts it to US and international time zones.
| Time zone | Cold Moon 2027 (exact full moon) |
|---|---|
| UTC | Monday, December 13, 4:09 p.m. |
| US Eastern | Monday, December 13, 11:09 a.m. EST |
| US Central | Monday, December 13, 10:09 a.m. CST |
| US Mountain | Monday, December 13, 9:09 a.m. MST |
| US Pacific | Monday, December 13, 8:09 a.m. PST |
| Alaska | Monday, December 13, 7:09 a.m. AKST |
| Hawaii | Monday, December 13, 6:09 a.m. HST |
| London | Monday, December 13, 4:09 p.m. GMT |
| India | Monday, December 13, 9:39 p.m. IST |
| Sydney | Tuesday, December 14, 3:09 a.m. AEDT |
The 2027 Cold Moon falls on Monday, December 13, across the Americas, Europe, Africa, India and Thailand, but on Tuesday, December 14, in China, Perth, Japan, eastern Australia and New Zealand.
Any time zone 7 hours and 51 minutes or more ahead of UTC moves it to December 14, so Bangkok (UTC+7) keeps December 13 at 11:09 p.m. while Beijing and Perth (UTC+8) move to 12:09 a.m. on December 14.
The full moon before it is the Beaver Moon of Saturday, November 13, and the next is the Wolf Moon of Monday, January 10, 2028, in US Eastern Time.
Cold Moon moonrise times in US cities
The exact full moon comes in the morning across the United States, after the Moon has set, so the evenings of Sunday, December 12, and Monday, December 13, are the times to see it.
The table below gives moonrise, sunset and moonset for four US cities, from the Naval Observatory’s rise and set data.
| City | Sunday, December 12: moonrise (lit) | Monday, December 13: moonset | Monday, December 13: moonrise (lit) | Monday, December 13: sunset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York (EST) | 3:22 p.m. (99%) | 7:21 a.m. | 4:22 p.m. (100%) | 4:29 p.m. |
| Chicago (CST) | 3:14 p.m. (99%) | 7:22 a.m. | 4:14 p.m. (100%) | 4:20 p.m. |
| Denver (MST) | 3:34 p.m. (99%) | 7:26 a.m. | 4:35 p.m. (100%) | 4:36 p.m. |
| Los Angeles (PST) | 3:49 p.m. (99%) | 7:01 a.m. | 4:50 p.m. (100%) | 4:45 p.m. |
On Monday, December 13, the full Moon rises within 7 minutes of sunset in all four cities, from 7 minutes before sunset in New York to 5 minutes after in Los Angeles. On Sunday, December 12, it rises about an hour before sunset, between 3:14 and 3:49 p.m. local time.
The highest and longest full moon of 2027
A full moon sits opposite the Sun. In December, the Sun follows its lowest path of the year across the Northern Hemisphere sky, so the full moon opposite it follows the highest.
The Farmers’ Almanac, citing NASA, says the December full moon “rides higher in the sky than any other Moon of the year,” and The Old Farmer’s Almanac notes that the Long Night Moon name reflects how long it stays above the horizon near the winter solstice.
Datescal calculated how high each 2027 full moon climbs, using the Astropy astronomy software library. The Cold Moon is the highest full moon of 2027 in all four cities. TheSkyLive gives its declination as about 25.6 degrees north, in the constellation Taurus.
| City | Cold Moon, December 13 to 14: highest point | Strawberry Moon, June 18 to 19: highest point |
|---|---|---|
| New York | about 75.4° | about 21.5° |
| Chicago | about 74.3° | about 20.4° |
| Denver | about 76.5° | about 22.6° |
| Los Angeles | about 82.3° | about 28.3° |
The figures are the Moon’s greatest geometric altitude on the night of the full moon, without the small lift from atmospheric refraction.
The Naval Observatory’s rise and set times show how long it stays up: in New York the Moon rises at 4:22 p.m. EST on December 13 and does not set until 8:20 a.m. on December 14, almost 16 hours above the horizon, compared with 9 hours and 18 minutes of daylight that day.
The Cold Moon and the Geminid meteor shower
The Geminid meteor shower, which can produce about 120 meteors an hour under a dark, moonless sky according to EarthSky, peaks a day after the 2027 Cold Moon.
Forecastbar lists the 2027 peak at 19:54 UTC on Tuesday, December 14, which is 2:54 p.m. EST, and the Dutch observing site Hemel.waarnemen.com gives about 00:00 UTC on December 15, or 7:00 p.m. EST on December 14.
That puts the best viewing on the night of December 14 into December 15 in the United States. Hemel.waarnemen.com says the Moon will be about 100% lit and a considerable disturbance, cutting the visible rate to roughly 17 to 26 Geminids an hour from the Netherlands, against a theoretical rate of about 120 under a perfect sky.
The Cold Moon and the winter solstice
The Cold Moon comes 8 days and 10 hours before the December solstice, which falls at 9:42 p.m. EST on Tuesday, December 21, 2027 (02:42 UTC on December 22).
It is the last full moon of autumn 2027 and of the calendar year. The next full moon, on January 10, 2028, in Eastern Time, is the first of winter.
Cold Moon dates for 2026 to 2031
The Cold Moon shifts about 11 days earlier each year, then jumps later when a 13th full moon falls into the year.
| Year | Cold Moon (Eastern Time) | Pacific Time | UTC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Wednesday, December 23, 8:28 p.m. EST | Wednesday, December 23, 5:28 p.m. PST | Dec 24, 01:28 |
| 2027 | Monday, December 13, 11:09 a.m. EST | Monday, December 13, 8:09 a.m. PST | Dec 13, 16:09 |
| 2028 | Friday, December 1, 8:40 p.m. EST | Friday, December 1, 5:40 p.m. PST | Dec 2, 01:40 |
| 2029 | Thursday, December 20, 5:46 p.m. EST | Thursday, December 20, 2:46 p.m. PST | Dec 20, 22:46 |
| 2030 | Monday, December 9, 5:40 p.m. EST | Monday, December 9, 2:40 p.m. PST | Dec 9, 22:40 |
| 2031 | Sunday, December 28, 12:33 p.m. EST | Sunday, December 28, 9:33 a.m. PST | Dec 28, 17:33 |
December 2028 has two full moons: the Cold Moon on Friday, December 1, in US time zones, and a monthly Blue Moon on Sunday, December 31, at 11:48 a.m. EST. The 2026 and 2028 Cold Moons fall a day earlier in the United States than in UTC.
Total lunar eclipses at the December full moon
After 2027, which has no total lunar eclipse, the December full moons of 2028 and 2029 both bring one:
| Date | Greatest eclipse | Totality | Where visible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, December 31, 2028 (Blue Moon) | 16:52 UTC (11:52 a.m. EST) | About 71 to 72 minutes | Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia; partly from western North America |
| Thursday, December 20, 2029 (Cold Moon) | 22:43 UTC (5:43 p.m. EST) | About 54 minutes | The Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia; rising over North and South America |
The details come from Wikipedia’s pages on the December 2028 and December 2029 eclipses and EclipseWise’s pages for 2028 and 2029.
What is the Cold Moon?
The Cold Moon is a traditional name for the full moon of December. Like every full moon, it is the instant the Moon stands opposite the Sun, 180 degrees away along the ecliptic, so its whole Earth-facing side is lit.
The name does not reflect any astronomical difference from other full moons, though the December full moon does follow the highest path of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
Where the Cold Moon name comes from
According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the Cold Moon name, which reflects the frigid season, comes from Mohawk tradition. The Farmers’ Almanac calls it “a plain descriptive label, used by several Native North American nations and by Celtic tradition alike,” marking the deepening winter cold.
The Maine Farmers’ Almanac began publishing such moon names in the 1930s, and the 1937 edition credited them to “our early English ancestors,” according to Wikipedia, so the origin of the full set of names is disputed.
Other names for the December full moon
The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists these December full moon names, with the peoples it attributes them to:
| Name | Attributed to |
|---|---|
| Long Night Moon | Mohican |
| Drift Clearing Moon | Cree |
| Frost Exploding Trees Moon | Cree |
| Hoar Frost Moon | Cree |
| Moon of the Popping Trees | Oglala |
| Snow Moon | Haida, Cherokee |
| Winter Maker Moon | Western Abenaki |
| Moon When the Deer Shed Their Antlers | Dakota |
| Little Spirit Moon | Anishinaabe |
The Farmers’ Almanac adds the Moon Before Yule and the Oak Moon.
The 2027 Cold Moon’s distance and zodiac sign
The 2027 Cold Moon is 368,139 km from Earth at full, according to Moonblink, the third-closest full moon of 2027 after the January supermoon and the February Snow Moon. It is not a supermoon.
At the Cold Moon, the Sun is in Sagittarius, so the Moon stands opposite it in Gemini. In astrology, this is the full moon in Gemini, while TheSkyLive places the Moon in the constellation Taurus. The Sun moves into Capricorn at the solstice on December 21 in US time zones.
How to see the Cold Moon
The Cold Moon is visible to the naked eye wherever the sky is clear. These steps give the best view in the United States:
- Look east around sunset on Monday, December 13, 2027; the full Moon rises between 4:14 and 4:50 p.m. local standard time in the four cities above.
- Look high in the south around midnight, when the Moon is near its highest point of the night and of the year.
- For an earlier view, look on Sunday, December 12, when the 99%-lit Moon rises about an hour before sunset.
- If you plan to watch the Geminids on December 14, face away from the Moon or stand in the shadow of a building to cut the glare.
What the Cold Moon is not
Several terms are linked to the December full moon. The table below sets out the differences.
| Term | What it means | Relation to the 2027 Cold Moon |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Moon | Traditional name for December’s full moon | Monday, December 13, 2027 |
| Long Night Moon | Another name for December’s full moon | The same full moon |
| Winter solstice | The Sun’s lowest point of the year | December 21, 2027, in US time zones, 8 days later |
| Supermoon | A full moon near the Moon’s closest point to Earth | No; 2027’s only supermoon is January 22 |
| Total lunar eclipse | The Moon passing fully into Earth’s dark shadow | Not in 2027; the December full moons of 2028 and 2029 bring one |
| Wolf Moon | Traditional name for January’s full moon | The next full moon, January 10, 2028, in Eastern Time |
Frequently asked questions
When is the Cold Moon in 2027?
The Cold Moon in 2027 is on Monday, December 13, at 11:09 a.m. EST (16:09 UTC), according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. In Pacific Time, it falls at 8:09 a.m. PST. The best evenings to see it are Sunday, December 12, and Monday, December 13, when it rises close to sunset.
Is the Cold Moon the last full moon of 2027?
Yes. The December 13 Cold Moon is the 12th and last full moon of 2027. The next full moon, the 2028 Wolf Moon, falls at 11:03 p.m. EST on Monday, January 10, 2028, which is 04:03 UTC on January 11.
Why is the Cold Moon so high in the sky?
A full moon sits opposite the Sun, and in December the Sun follows its lowest path of the year, so the full moon follows the highest. In 2027 the Cold Moon climbs about 75 degrees above the horizon in New York and stays up for almost 16 hours on the night of December 13.
Why is it called the Cold Moon?
The Old Farmer’s Almanac says the name reflects the frigid season and comes from Mohawk tradition, and the Farmers’ Almanac calls it a plain descriptive label used by several Native North American nations. Other December names include the Long Night Moon, the Moon Before Yule, and the Snow Moon.
Will the Cold Moon affect the 2027 Geminids?
Yes. The Geminids peak on December 14, 2027, a day after the Cold Moon. Hemel.waarnemen.com says the nearly 100% lit Moon will be a considerable disturbance, so only the brighter meteors will show. Watching with the Moon behind you helps.
What sign is the Cold Moon in 2027?
The 2027 Cold Moon is in Gemini. At full moon, the Moon sits opposite the Sun, and on December 13, 2027, the Sun is in Sagittarius, which it leaves for Capricorn at the December 21 solstice in US time zones. In astrology, this is called the full moon in Gemini.
Sources:
- USNO moon phases 2027
- USNO rise and set data, New York, December 13, 2027
- Moonblink 2027 table
- TheSkyLive: Full Moon of December 2027
- The Old Farmer’s Almanac: December full moon
- Farmers’ Almanac: Cold Moon
- EarthSky: Geminid meteor shower
- Forecastbar: December 2027 astronomy calendar
- Hemel.waarnemen.com: Geminiden 2027
- Wikipedia: December 2028 lunar eclipse
- Wikipedia: December 2029 lunar eclipse
- EclipseWise: Total lunar eclipse of 2028 December 31
- EclipseWise: Total lunar eclipse of 2029 December 20
