February’s snow moon peaks overnight

The moon will reaches its peak illumination in the wee hours tonight.

February’s full moon is known as the snow moon, called that by Native American tribes in the northeastern United States because of the heavy snows that typically fall during February. It also was known as the hunger moon because during the cold and sometimes heavy snowstorms food sources were scarce.

The moon will appear full tonight, and will be at its peak illumination at 3:19 a.m. Saturday, according to NASA.

Although temperatures are now well above freezing and the remaining snow pack won’t be around much longer, the snow moon is still aptly named because February is on average the snowiest month of the year in the United States, according to National Weather Service data.

So far this month, Dayton has received 14.8 inches of snow, with 21.9 inches reported in Cincinnati and 12.1 inches in Columbus, according to the NWS in Wilmington.

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