Today’s New Year’s Eve blue moon is pretty rare. It occurs every 19 years. I took this photo at 6:12 am over Bridge Square in downtown Northfield but technically, the blue moon won’t appear till this afternoon and should be visible (clear skies predicted) directly overhead at midnight tonight as we ring in the new decade. Watch out, though. LA Times:
Some evidence shows that arrests for petty crime and public drunkenness increase 5% during a full moon, and police expect extra aggressiveness and antisocial behavior from revelers whenever a full moon occurs during a holiday.
My latest favorite non-fiction author, psychologist Daniel Gilbert, has an op-ed in today’s NY Times that make me grateful for downtown Northfield:Times to Remember, Places to Forget.
Yes, ‘place’ still matters here.
“…every two or three years (7 times in the 19-year Metonic cycle), there is an extra full moon. The extra moon is called a “blue moon…”
[…] guess the police were right about full moons, especially the blue types. Share […]
I remember the last New Year’s Eve “blue” moon. 12/31/1990. I was at a friend’s cabin just south of Eveleth, MN. Don’t remember the temperature, but it was somewhere south of twenty below. People were taking saunas and then seeing how long they could stand outside. Really stupid people, that is.
Oh, wow, the internet is amazing. I did a quick search and found this:
http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KEVM/1990/12/31/DailyHistory.html?req_city=Virginia&req_state=MN&req_statename=Minnesota
It was about -27 F that night, which is still the record for a New Year’s Eve in that area.