The cold moon is December’s full moon. The next one is full on Thursday 24 December 2026 at 1:28am GMT.
The US Naval Observatory phases data (aa.usno.navy.mil, read 30 September 2026) gives full moon at 01:28 UT on 24 December 2026. December is on GMT, so that is 1:28am in the UK. There is a moon phase print for the occasion, Lunar Phases, and every other full moon of the year is in the full moon calendar. For a present that night, space Christmas gifts gives the last order day.
What is the December full moon called?
The Cold Moon. In the words of Royal Museums Greenwich: The coming of winter earned December’s full moon the name cold moon.
It is also the full moon nearest the winter solstice, which is why it climbs higher in the UK sky and stays up longer than any other full moon of the year.
Watching the cold moon from the UK
The highest full moon of the year from the UK, and the longest time above the horizon, because it sits opposite a Sun that barely gets up. In 2026 it falls on Christmas Eve.
December's full moon rides higher and stays up longer than any other, because it sits opposite a Sun that scarcely clears the horizon. From southern England it climbs to around sixty degrees; from Scotland it is lower but up for longer still. It is the full moon most likely to be useful, in the sense that you can walk by it.
How high the cold moon climbs
From Greenwich on the night of 23 to 24 December 2026, one of 2026’s full moons climbs higher than the cold moon and 11 stay lower.
| Cold Moon rises | 2:50pm, north-east |
|---|---|
| Cold Moon at its highest | 11:55pm, 66° up, due south |
| Cold Moon sets | 8:53am, north-west |
| Time above the horizon | 18 hours for the Cold Moon |
| Sun at 11:55pm | 62° below the horizon |
The 2026 spread, from about 10° in June to 66° in winter, is unusually wide. The tilt of the Moon’s orbit swings that range in and out over 18.6 years, and the wide end of the cycle, the major lunar standstill, was at its most extreme around the equinoxes of September 2024 and March 2025 (Space.com). The next is due in the early 2040s.
Also in the December sky
The Geminids peak around 13 to 14 December, usually the strongest meteor shower of the year from the UK. The winter solstice follows around the 21st, the longest night, with Orion back in the evening sky.
For December’s meteor dates and how much the Moon gets in the way, see UK meteor showers and the Moon.
What people get wrong about the cold moon
That December's is the biggest full moon of the year. Height is not size. It climbs highest and stays up longest, but how large it appears depends on where the Moon is in its orbit that month, and that has nothing to do with the season.
Searching for it? The plain phrase “cold moon” mostly returns a 2016 horror film, on the undated term. Adding the year gets past that.
Cold Moon dates, London time
- 2026: Thursday 24 December 2026 at 1:28am (GMT)
- 2027: Monday 13 December 2027 at 4:09pm (GMT)
The 2026 cold moon time is from NASA and the Royal Observatory; 2027 is NASA only until the Observatory publishes.
In 2027 the cold moon falls on Monday 13 December 2027. Why named full moons drift.
The cold moon in the sequence
In 2026 the cold moon is the thirteenth of 13 full moons. It comes after the Beaver Moon (Tuesday 24 November 2026). On the nights either side of the cold moon the Moon isn’t quite full: it’s a waxing, then a waning, gibbous, and the eight phases of the Moon explains both.
Any moon print can be checked the same way, cold moon or not: how to tell an accurate moon phase print.
Written by Craig Fearn, Aphelion Prints. Last updated .
