First Alert Weather in Depth: Thursday night’s full moon is the last Supermoon of 2023

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Thursday night’s Full “Harvest” Moon will be the last Supermoon of 2023.

This is the full moon closest to the autumn equinox and gets its name because typically this time of year is when many crops in the Northern Hemisphere are ready to be harvested. The moon during this time of year would give farmers extra light after sunset, and more time to harvest their crop before the first frost.

The Full Moon in Rochester will rise Thursday night at 6:51p.m. and set Friday morning at 7:09 p.m. It will be full at 5:57 Friday morning.

It is also a Supermoon because it is a full moon that occurs at or near perigee. Perigee is when the moon is closest to Earth on its orbit. This means that the moon will look a bit bigger and brighter in the sky than usual. As far as the weather conditions, Thursday night and early Friday morning, the clouds will play a role.

Thursday night we expect mostly cloudy conditions, along with the threat for a passing shower. However, complete cloud cover is not expected so we should get a few good glimpses of the moon before the sun rises Friday morning. The moon will be in the southern sky.