By Nathan Ham
March 20 is a big day on the calendar for those looking forward to warmer weather, and those that look up to the sky at night.
Wednesday is the first day of spring and will be the third and final supermoon of 2019. There was a supermoon in both January and February as well, but this one coming up tomorrow will be the final one of 2019. The next supermoon will not occur until February of 2020.
Spring will officially arrive at 5:58 p.m. Wednesday evening. The full moon happens at 9:43 p.m.
The supermoon gets its name because it is a full moon that also happens to be right around its nearest distance from Earth. That gives the moon the appearance of looking larger and having a brighter color at night.
This is also an interesting date for historians. This is the first time since March 20, 1981 that a full moon is coinciding with the first day of spring.
As has been the case with other supermoons of the past, this full moon has a special name. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, this moon is called the Full Worm Moon because it associates with the time of year that the ground gets soft enough for earthworms to start reappearing for the spring. Other old timers used to call this moon the Full Sap Moon signifying the time of year that the sap in sugar maple trees starts to flow.
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