And it’s the Full Moon to boot. The moment of fullness is midday
Saturday, so you can see a “Full Moon” rising Friday night –
precisely due east, a few minutes before sunset – and again
Saturday night, a few minutes after sunset. Both times, yes, it
will look big. The Vernal Equinox happens the very next day,
Sunday. This correspondence between Earth’s straight-up-and-down
equinoctial orientation plus the Moon and Sun being on opposite
sides of the sky, plus the Moon’s extraordinary nearness, will
produce extremely high tides. In most places it takes a day or
two for the water to catch up to the Moon. For example, at the
Saugerties Lighthouse starting Monday morning, each day’s first
high tide will rise five feet or more beyond mean sea level.
That will bury its trails beneath two feet of water. This would
be a great time to visit the Bay of Fundy, especially the Minas
Basin of Nova Scotia. Already boasting the highest tidal range
of the world, its tides respond mostly to the Moon’s distance
rather than its F