The second full moon of 2026 is just days away. February’s Full Snow Moon is set to rise on the evening of Feb. 1, turning the wintry chaos into a celestial encore.
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According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the moon will reach its peak illumination at 5:09 p.m. ET on Sunday, just before sunset. The moon will be below the horizon at this point for most of the Northern Hemisphere, so you won’t be able to catch this one right at its very peak. It’ll come up over the eastern horizon shortly after 6:00 p.m. local time and streak across the sky before setting on the western horizon right at sunrise.
The Snow Moon doesn’t have any special characteristics, like January’s supermoon or last June’s mini-moon. What makes this moon special is its timing. People in the Midwest and Northeast US currently have a ton of snow on the ground, and with temperatures expected to remain below freezing for several weeks, the snow will likely still be there when the full moon hits.
The snow is a certified expert at reflecting light, including moonlight.
That should provide quite a show all on its own. According to NASA, this is because snow has a very high albedo, a measure of how well a material reflects sunlight. Snow reflects upward of 90% of solar radiation and light, and since moonlight is just sunlight reflected off the moon, that means the snow is going to do an excellent job bouncing that light around.
The result will no doubt be one of the brightest nights of the year, easily surpassing the supermoons coming later in 2026.
You won’t need any special equipment to see the full moon, as it’s the brightest thing in the night sky by a country mile. With all the snow cover, you might not even need a flashlight if you let your dog out after dark and the sky is clear.
Why is it called the Snow Moon?
Midwest and Northeast residents need only to look outside to discover why February’s full moon is referred to as the Snow Moon. The Old Farmer’s Almanac says it earned the name because the month had the most snow back in the days before the Revolutionary War.
January has since taken the title of the snowiest month. According to data from The Weather Channel, the East Coast still sees most of its snowfall in February, and since most people lived there at the time, that’s probably where the name came from.
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