Take a look up to the heavens starting on Wednesday and you’ll see the last supermoon of the year light up the sky over Beaufort, SC. December’s cold moon will be the next full moon and it will be the final supermoon of 2025, making it one of the biggest full moons of the year, illuminating the sky for several nights.
The moon will turn full at 8:20am on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. Named for the chilly temperatures at this time of year in North America, this moon is not only the second-biggest full moon of 2025 — a “supermoon” — but it reaches higher into the sky than any other.moon
It will look full the night before and the night after, but the best time to watch it rise in Beaufort will be at moonrise during dusk on Friday, Dec. 5, when it will appear on the eastern horizon shortly after sunset.
It will be the third of three supermoons this year. The three supermoons in 2025 occured on October 6, November 5, and this one on December 4. The first was the Harvest Moon. The second was the Beaver Moon, and this one is the Cold Moon.
In addition, the near coincidence of this full moon with perigee will result in a dramatically large range of high and low ocean tides. Any coastal storm at sea around this time would almost certainly aggravate coastal flooding problems at high tide, or, in the case of a strong wind pushing the water offshore, it would create a very low water situation at low tide.
Supermoons by definition happen “when a full moon coincides with the Moon’s closest approach to Earth in its elliptical orbit, a point known as perigee,” according to NASA.
“During every 27-day orbit around Earth, the Moon reaches both its perigee, about 226,000 miles (363,300 km) from Earth, and its farthest point, or apogee, about 251,000 miles (405,500 km) from Earth.”
Supermoons in general appear 17% bigger and 30% brighter than when the moon is at its farthest point away from Earth, according to NASA. Supermoons are slightly bigger and brighter than most full moons, too. Just because it’s bigger and brighter doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll see it unaided, so binoculars may give you a better view.
You’ll be able to step outside and enjoy the view with the supermoon brightly illuminating our late autumn evening sky.
