How To See Full Wolf Moon In VA, And Why Its Namesake Howls

VIRGINIA — January’s full wolf moon, which rises around 5:14 p.m. Thursday, is the first full moon of 2024.

Whether you can enjoy our natural satellite at peak illumination — which actually occurs at 12:45 p.m. EST, hours before it rises — will depend on sky conditions. The National Weather Service forecast for Northern Virginia and the DC region is a bit gloomy Thursday, calling for showers and drizzle during the day, with dense fog moving in this evening and scattered showers after 10 p.m.

If you want to howl at the moon like a wolf, by around midnight it will shine brightly overhead. It will set in the western sky around 7:41 a.m. Friday.

According to lore, the January full moon became known as the full wolf moon because wolves howl at this time of the year when they’re hungry, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Wolves may be starving, depending upon the availability of prey, but there’s a more primal explanation for their long, seemingly mournful howls, which can be heard miles away. January is the start of the breeding season for wolves.

“Howling is for long-distance communication to pull a pack back together and keep strangers away,” according to the National Wildlife Federation.

• Related: 2024 Guide To Meteor Showers, Solar Eclipse, Supermoons And Full Moons

Howling is just one way wolves communicate. They also use body language, mark their territories with scent, and bark and growl. Much of their communication is about reinforcing the social hierarchy of the pack, according to the NWF.

This communication also includes submissive behavior. A wolf not willing to challenge the hierarchy will often crouch and whimper, tuck in its tail, lick the other wolf’s mouth or roll over on its back, the organization said. If the opposite is true and a wolf wants to challenge the status quo, it will often growl and lay its ears back.

Native Americans and colonists often gave each month’s full moon a name to keep track of seasons, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. The January full moon is also known as the Center Moon, a name given by the Assiniboine people of the Northern Great Plains because it falls about halfway through the cold winter season.

It also has been called the cold moon or exploding frost moon by the Cree, the freeze up moon by the Algonquin, and the severe moon or hard moon by the Dakota.

Related: The 2024 Great American Solar Eclipse Is A Really Big Deal: Here’s Why