Predicting Weather By The Moon - Xavier University Libraries

WANING CRESCENT,
Weather By The Moon
In this phase, the Moon appears as a mirror image of
the Waxing Crescent. Reduced to a thin banana shape, the
gradually vanishing sliver can be glimpsed rising low in the
east before Sunrise, before vanishing altogether for a couple
of days as it becomes lost in the glow of the Sun’s light.
We are at the month’s end, the disk is gone. When we
see no Moon we speak of the ‘New Moon’, but this is a
misnomer because it is not really renewed until we see its
crescent again a few days later in the evening twilight.
The whole phase process takes roughly 29 and a half
days. In the past, weeks originated as quarters of this lunar
cycle. If New Moon falls on a Sunday, so will 1 st Quarter, 3
times out of 4. Almost all cultures we are aware of throughout
ancient history have set their farming clocks around
the moon’s month. Crops were planted and harvested at
particular phases.
Later we will cover a little more fully how each of
the four phases can affect the weather. But for now, we
need to have a closer look at gravitation.
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