Moon phase calendar 2026 for Chicago

Every new moon, first quarter, full moon and last quarter of 2026 in Chicago local time, with moonrise on each full moon day and a calendar for every month.

When are the full moons in Chicago in 2026?

Chicago has 13 full moons in 2026: January 3, February 1, March 3, April 1, May 1, May 31, June 29, July 29, August 27, September 26, October 25, November 24 and December 23. May has two. All are dated on Central Time, CST or CDT.

Full moons in Chicago, 2026

Each date opens that minute in the moon phase calculator, as seen from Chicago.

Moon phase calendar by month, 2026

Every phase of 2026 in Chicago

One row per lunation, from its new moon to its last quarter, on Central Time.

Clock changes in 2026

Every time on this page is on the clock in force at that instant: CST (Central Standard Time, UTC−6) or CDT (Central Daylight Time, UTC−5). In 2026 the clocks change on these dates:

• Sunday, March 8, at 2:00 a.m. CST, clocks go forward an hour to 3:00 a.m. CDT.
• Sunday, November 1, at 2:00 a.m. CDT, clocks go back an hour to 1:00 a.m. CST.

How the dates are worked out

A phase happens at one instant for the whole Earth, so the date it falls on depends on the clock. The full moon at 02:12 UT on April 2 is at 9:12 p.m. CDT on April 1 in Chicago.

The instants are worked out with the method in chapter 49 of Jean Meeus’s Astronomical Algorithms (1998), the model behind the moon phase calculator, and rounded to the minute as almanacs print them. Every 2026 time is within a minute of the US Naval Observatory’s, and every 2027 time matches NASA’s table of lunar phases by Fred Espenak to the minute.

A day takes a phase’s name when the phase falls on it, at any hour, which is how the US Naval Observatory names days. Any other day is a waxing or waning crescent, under half lit, or gibbous, over half lit. Each disc shows the Moon at 9:00 p.m. in Chicago, turned as it hangs in the sky there.

Moonrise is the moment the top of the Moon clears the horizon, allowing 34 arcminutes for refraction, the US Naval Observatory’s definition. It is worked out for 41.85° N, 87.65° W, the point the time zone database gives for Chicago.

The moon phase calculator shows the Moon on any date from 1900 to 2100, from anywhere, and can lay out the whole of 2026 for Chicago as a picture to save.