March - On & Off Earth

March 2025 - On & Off Earth

I need to apologize for several presumptions I made in last month’s column. It turns out the groundhog’s forecast for six more weeks of winter was more spot on than the weather service’s call for a mild, snow-free February. My forecast that Phil’s call would be forgotten by Valentine’s day was also wrong. In more bad calls, I have yet to see any jonquils or forsythia blooms nor hear any lawn mowers. It seems I forgot about the chaotic, turbulent nature of our atmosphere and need to remember to stick to my always correct call, “there will be weather today”.

What we do know, March means Spring and Spring means the roller coaster weather ride we have been on is likely to continue. Spring begins on the 1st for a meteorologist but for the rest of us it will begin with the Vernal Equinox on the 20th at 5:01am EDT. At that moment, the sun will be aligned directly over Earth’s equator. Daylight Saving Time, barring any momentary whimsy from DC, is scheduled to occur at 2am on the 9th. We gain 72 minutes of daylight over the month, more at sunrise but that is mostly lost by moving the clocks an hour ahead.

The Moon will be in the news this month, billed as, The Blood Moon. The Full Worm Moon will pass through Earth’s shadow for a Total Lunar Eclipse in the wee hours of March 14th. This eclipse is not for the faint of heart as it begins at 1:09am, is total from 2:26 to 3:32 and ends at 4:48am. Set your alarms, mid-eclipse is around 3am if you want to get up, take a peek and go back to bed.

The totally eclipsed moon will be some shade of red, lit up by the longer waves of red light from Earth’s sunrises and sets. Our atmosphere acts much like a prism, refracting blue light during the day as the sun beams down at a steep angle through the air. It refracts the longer red, orange and yellow waves passing through at a low angle during sunrises and sunsets. Once totally in Earth’s shadow, the moon, depending on dust levels in the upper atmosphere, could be blood red or copper red, or… no one knows until that night! Not a total solar eclipse but still pretty cool.

The two weeks of waxing moon leading up to the eclipse will offer several moon-planet flybys and for me, the last of the sunset into moonlight walks. I do enjoy the extra evening light of Daylight Saving but with dark pushed back to 8pm or later, that throws off my schedule. Mix in the potential dangers of recently awakened bears and copperheads and I’ll be watching sunsets from closer to home.

On March 1st, a thin waxing crescent visits Venus as the Evening Star for the last time this year. Venus will drop rather quickly from view this month and pass between the Earth and sun on the 23rd. On the 29th, early risers can see Venus again near a crescent moon, now as the Morning Star, off to the left of the waning crescent, both low in the pre-dawn southeastern sky. The first quarter moon will be above Jupiter on the 6th and a bright gibbous moon will be in Gemini near Mars on the 8th. Our solar background changes from Aquarius to Pisces on the 13th.

After several winters off, the folklore name, Snow moon was perfect for this February. Evidence of March’s Worm moon will be harder to see. Perhaps a robin tugging a worm from the rapidly greening Earth? Here, in the hamlet of Quail, it could be, for the first time in well over a decade, an actual Bob White Quail out worming. I heard their call last summer, and now there is a sizable covey in residence. I love hearing their call, their last second explosion, in mass, as I unwittingly approach, less so. And, yes, my house plant tree frog is still around!