| Poor Will’s Almanack By Bill Felker June 29-July 5, 2015 Lunar phase and lore The Firefly Moon, full on July 1 at 9:20 p.m., wanes throughout the period, reaching perigee, its most powerful position closest to Earth, on July 5 and then entering its last quarter at 3:24 p.m. July 8. Rising in the late evening and setting in the morning, this moon shines throughout the night, passing overhead before dawn. The best angling and worst dieting may occur when the moon is above the region, especially as the cool front of July 6 approaches, pushing down the barometer and bringing on the Corn Tassel Rains. Plant turnips and other root crops in Capricorn on July 1-3, and in Pisces, July 5-7. Weather trends Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods or pro-longed periods of soggy pasture are most likely to occur within the weather windows of July 3-7 and 18-23. The Dog Days and the Corn Tassel Rains often begin on July 3 as the chances for highs in the 90s rise and thunderstorms multiply. Although the July 6 cool front may bring some relief from the heat, chances for mild 70s on July 8-9 are relatively low in most of the nation. The natural calendar June 29: It’s the time of the major decay of thistles, their flowers changing to down. Hemlock season is complete, stalks collapsing into the tall grasses. Clustered snakeroot has gone to seed like the waterleaf. Parsnip heads brown in the sun. Privet is done blooming. June 30: Some green-hulled walnuts are already on the ground. July 1: Venus leaves Cancer and moves backwards into Leo, joining Jupiter almost below the cup of the Big Dipper and competing with bright Regulus. Venus is the largest planet in Leo, Jupiter the smaller of the two, and Leo’s Regulus rivals Jupiter. You can tell those two apart: Regulus twinkles. Saturn remains in Libra, low in the southwest after dark. Mars is still not visible this month. July 2: The earliest cicadas start to chant. This year’s ducklings and goslings are nearly full-grown. July 3: Aphelion, the point at which the Earth is farthest from the sun, occurs at 8 p.m. today. July 4: Milkweed pods appear on the milkweed; those pods should burst in about 80 days, at the approach of middle autumn.
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