August's Full Sturgeon Moon Happens This Thursday Evening

The Full Sturgeon Moon happens this Thursday, August 11, at 9:36 p.m. EDT. This will be the fourth supermoon in a row, and the last one of 2022. As summer slips into autumn and nights begin to grow longer, the final supermoon of the year will make a big splash 

So, how did the August full Moon get its name? The fishing tribes are given credit for naming it, since sturgeon, a large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water, were most readily caught during this month. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because, as the Moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze. It was also called the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon.

Thunder and lightning are quite frequent with Summer storms in August. So, this month’s full Moon also goes by the name of the Lightning Moon for the Summer thunderstorms. Other names given to the Moon in August are the Red Moon and the Dog Moon. 

Full Moon names date back to the days of the Native Americans, in what is now the Northern and Eastern United States.

The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. There was some variation in the Moon names, but in general, the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior.

Paul