This was a great sight while looking east across the calm Atlantic Ocean at Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey on September 5, 2009. The winds were light, the sky was clear and a beautiful, large red full moon rose above the ocean. Jupiter was shining brightly to the southeast as well. The larger size of the moon and red hue near the horizon is due to refraction as the sun's rays pass through the earth's atmosphere at a low angle. As the earth rotates, the moon appears to rise in the eastern horizon and as it does, the moon becomes more normal in apparent size and less red in color until it it the familiar bright, white disk in the sky. This was a great late summer evening at the Jersey Shore.
George Wright, AMS Certified Consulting Meteorologist and President of Wright Weather Consulting, Inc. View our web site at WrightWeather.com.
