Full Worm Blood Moon 2025: Total lunar eclipse to light up Park City skies - TownLift, Park City News

Rebecca Brenner 14 min ago Photo: Stacey Armijo PARK CITY, Utah — A rare celestial event will light up the skies over Summit County next week as March’s full Moon, known as the Worm Moon, coincides

Rebecca Brenner 14 min ago

Photo: Stacey Armijo

PARK CITY, Utah — A rare celestial event will light up the skies over Summit County next week as March’s full Moon, known as the Worm Moon, coincides with a total lunar eclipse. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the Moon will reach peak illumination at 2:55 a.m. ET (12:55 a.m. MT) on Friday, March 14, 2025, offers skywatchers in Park City a chance to witness a strikingly bright full Moon and the deep red hue of a Blood Moon.

The best time to view the Full Worm Moon will be as it rises over the Wasatch Mountains on the evening of Thursday, March 13. If viewing conditions are poor, The Old Farmer’s Almanac recommends trying again on Friday night, when the Moon will still appear full and luminous.

This month’s event will include more than just a full Moon. It will also bring a total lunar eclipse, an occurrence in which the Earth moves directly between the Sun and the Moon, casting a reddish shadow over the lunar surface. This effect, known as a Blood Moon, happens when sunlight filters through Earth’s atmosphere and scatters, leaving the Moon bathed in shades of copper and crimson.

The eclipse will begin at 9:56 p.m. MT on March 13, when the Moon enters Earth’s penumbra or outer shadow. The Moon will slip into the umbra—the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow—at 11:09 p.m. MT, marking the start of totality. The full eclipse will last until 1:48 a.m. MT on March 14, with the Moon exiting the Earth’s shadow entirely by 3:02 a.m. MT.

According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, this total lunar eclipse will be visible across North America. Park City’s high-altitude vantage point offers a prime location to observe the event. No special equipment is needed to view a lunar eclipse, though binoculars or a telescope will enhance the experience.

Each full Moon has a name tied to seasonal changes, drawn from Native American, European, and Colonial American traditions, as documented by The Old Farmer’s Almanac. March’s full Moon is commonly called the Worm Moon, a reference long thought to indicate the return of earthworms to warming spring soil. However, historical records reveal that the name may instead stem from the emergence of beetle larvae from thawing tree bark—a subtle but significant shift in the natural world.

Other traditional names for the March Moon reflect the transition from winter to spring. The Sugar Moon (Ojibwe) marks the time when maple sap begins to flow, while the Wind Strong Moon (Pueblo) highlights the blustery conditions common in late winter. The Sore Eyes Moon (Dakota, Lakota, Assiniboine) refers to the intense sunlight reflecting off melting snow.

For those hoping for an extra rare sight, The Old Farmer’s Almanac notes that the Full Worm Moon may also produce a moonbow—a nighttime version of a rainbow created when moonlight refracts through moisture in the air. Moonbows are most visible when the full Moon is low in the sky, shortly after sunset or before sunrise.

If conditions are clear enough, the Full Worm Blood Moon and total lunar eclipse will offer a breathtaking show for stargazers across Summit County.

For more details on this and other upcoming lunar events, visit The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

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Rebecca Brenner's work has been featured in Time, the LA Times, Tin House, The Rumpus, and others. She has lived in Park City for twenty years, now with her two children and wild cattle pup. She is a member of Leadership Park City class 30, the Park City Community Foundation’s DEI cohort, founder of Mindful. Summit County, and a board member of Summit Pride. Her debut memoir, Paper House, will be published with Wayfarer Books in Fall 2025.