You might see a Beaver Moon in Vancouver this week, but what the hell does that mean?
The November full moon is supposed to appear this Wednesday, Nov.5, and November’s full moon is called the Beaver Moon.
Right now, the weather outlook isn’t looking great for catching a glimpse of it in Vancouver, but the weather has been known to be quite unpredictable in the Metro Vancouver area, so anything is possible.
Here’s some more info about the Beaver Moon.
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the moon will reach peak illumination in the early morning hours of Nov. 5. So you’ll want to be on the lookout for it somewhere between the evening of Nov. 4 and early morning on Nov. 5.
The almanac says that the November moon orbits closer to the Earth than any other full moon this year. It’s one of only three supermoons of 2025.
It adds, “At its nearest point, the Beaver Moon will be 221,817 miles (356,980 kilometres) from Earth… this is the closest supermoon of the year!”
The almanac says that the reason it’s called the beaver moon is that this is the time of year when beavers start to take shelter in their lodges.
While this upcoming moon is technically brighter and bigger than a regular full moon, the almanac says it only appears about 7 per cent larger, “which can be an imperceptible difference to the human eye, depending on other conditions.”
Speaking of conditions, the current weather forecast doesn’t look too promising if you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of the beaver.
While there will be some sun and clouds on Monday, and mainly sunny conditions are forecast for Tuesday, periods of rain are expected to creep in on Tuesday night, persisting on Saturday at the earliest.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a chance that the skies could clear up at some point early Wednesday morning, but you probably wouldn’t want to place a bet on seeing a flash of this beaver moon appearing in the Metro Vancouver area.
ECCC