April's full Pink Moon will reach its peak in the UK at 03:12 BST on Thursday 2 April.

Whilst a beautiful night sky event, in truth it is not likely to be very pink at all.

The name, like so many others for full Moons, stems back to a time when people called them after seasonal moments in nature, to keep track of passing months. In this case it refers to a pink flower in North America which blooms at this time of year.

The full Moon in April has an important additional role as it is key in setting the dates for Easter and Passover.

On the evening of 1 April the moon will rise low on the horizon and is far more likely to look orange than pink.

This is because the sunlight it reflects reaches us through a more dense part of the Earth's atmosphere which scatters blue and violet light, and means only the redder hues reach us.

Other names for the full Pink Moon around the world include the Sprouting Grass Moon and Egg Moon indicating the start of spring. The full Fish Moon refers to when shad fish came upstream to spawn and Breaking Ice Moon highlights the arrival of warmer weather.

Full Moons have these names that hark back to ancient traditions before modern calendars were used.

They were helpful ways to mark the changing seasons and the names tend to relate to significant events, for example the Hunter, the Harvest and the Flower Moons.

Wednesday night's forecast currently looks like a cold front will move south across England and Wales bringing cloud and rain.

The best chances of clear spells will be in the colder air for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Don't forget you can keep up-to-date with the weather forecast where you are at BBC Weather online and on the app.

This year Easter is on 5 April.

The date is determined by the timing of key astronomical events, external.

It always falls on the first Sunday after the first full Moon that follows the spring equinox.

Over the centuries different parts of the Christian church used different calendars - the Gregorian and the Julian - which meant that the Easter would not always be on the same date around the world.

Attempts to bring everyone together meant that while many eastern European countries now use the Gregorian calendar for civil events, they use the Julian one to mark Orthodox festivals.

The date of the astronomical equinox also tends to naturally fluctuate between 20 and 21 March.

In 2026 it happens on 20 March.

However, the Christian church decided to 'set a fixed' date for it to help regularise its own calculations and always uses 21 March, external.

As the first full Moon after 21 March is the Pink Moon on April 2, it means Easter is the following Sunday - 5 April.

In a year when the full Moon itself rises on a Sunday, Easter will be set for the following one.

The new Moon marks the start of each lunar month of the Jewish calendar, with the full Moon always falling mid-way through.

Passover begins halfway through Nisan, external, the first month of that calendar, which is with the arrival of the April full Moon, external

Highlighted sentences link to their corresponding claims. Click any highlighted sentence to jump to its detailed analysis.
Highlight Colors Indicate Claim Quality:
✓ Healthy Claim - No fallacies or contradictions detected
⚠️ Minor Issues - Has contradictions or minor fallacies
🚨 Serious Issues - Multiple contradictions or severe fallacies
Quality Criteria: Claims are evaluated for logical fallacies and contradictions with other news sources. Green highlights indicate healthy claims suitable for reference.
Source