Despite cloudy skies, many San Diegans had breathtaking views of the “super blood wolf moon” on Sunday night.
It was the only lunar eclipse of 2019, and the longest at 62 minutes of totality predicted for this century.
The earth’s shadow could be clearly seen taking an increasing bite out of the moon until totality was reached at 8:41 p.m.
The darkened, reddish “blood moon” that remained was harder to see through the clouds except during brief clearings.
Then at 9:43 p.m. the earth’s shadow began to pass, eventually leaving a bright full moon.
This eclipse happened to coincide with the moon’s closest approach to Earth, making it loom slightly larger in the sky — a “supermoon.” It was also the first full moon of the year, making it a “wolf” moon.
The “blood” aspect comes from the moon’s appearance — the result of Earth’s atmosphere filtering the sun’s light red — and the Old Testament Book of Joel’s prophecy that “the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood.”
So this lunar eclipse was a “super blood wolf moon.”
After the eclipse, the clouds gave way to gusty winds, with the National Weather Service warning of sustained winds of at least 20 to 40 mph in the mountains on Monday morning, with gusts reaching 60 mph.
