Sunday night's full moon, the Daffodil Moon, will be one of the smallest full moons of the year. Can you tell? We often hear stories about a large moon and it being some kind of significant event. When the moon is close, large and full it has a big impact on our changing tides. There is magic associated with a large full moon.

What about a small full moon? On Sunday, the moon will be in apogee, farthest from the Earth than usual. The moon's 28-day orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle. It is elliptical, and thus there are times when the moon is close and times when it is farthest away. We hear a lot about when it is close.

Step outside on Sunday night and take a look. Can you tell that the moon is small? It is definitely hard to differentiate from other times when the moon is full. The moon will be 252,459 miles from us. Normally the moon hovers around 225,000 miles away. For comparison, later this month, on April 27, the New Moon will be in perigee, or 221,902 miles away. You won't see the moon, then, as it will be really close to the Sun. And you'll notice it if you are on the water. Tides will be extremely high and low on that date, especially. The tide will be noticeably different days running up to and after New Moon.

This weekend, we have a really benign full moon.