Will Lubbock Have an Evil Red Moon Friday Night?

What a great weekend to play in Lubbock, with a full moon in the sky.

This weekend will be highlighted by SWE Fury Wrestling, the Lubbock Arts Festival, the 4B Tattoo and Music Fest and, most of all, a huge, beautiful moon.

I got a preview of the Full Buck Moon over the last two nights. Early Wednesday morning it was actually an orangey-red, then this morning it was as bright as a flashlight. The actual fullness of the full moon actually happens Friday night (July 23rd) and you should be able to see it right after sunset.

Get our free mobile app

The funny thing is that the Full Buck Moon is also called the Salmon Moon, and it may actually be that color. This has nothing to do with the fish reference, but haze from the western wildfires may tint it in your vision just a bit. It may look red, it may look mad, but it's just the smoke in the atmosphere giving the moon a sinister glow.

While you're looking skyward, key an eye out for possible streaks in the sky. It's not the optimum time for viewing, but you may catch some of the Perseid meteor showers, which are active now through August 24th. Optimum viewing of these showers is actually just before dawn, with 50 to 100 meteors an hour.

Somehow I feel like some of the folks out at the 4B may be up late enough to check out these showers for us and possibly report back with some stories and pictures.

Lastly, how coincidental is it that we have a full moon during the Lubbock Arts Festival salute to space, astronauts and space travel? It's pretty darn neat.

I hope you'll take a minute to peak at the moon this weekend and make it out to these great events.