A “blood moon” is just a total lunar eclipse, and worldwide they happen a couple of times a year, but any one spot on Earth will only see a blood moon about once every 2–3 years on average.

Quick Scoop

  • A blood moon occurs when there is a total lunar eclipse and Earth’s shadow turns the moon red or coppery.
  • Only about a third of all lunar eclipses are total, so not every eclipse is a blood moon.
  • Earth typically gets around 2 lunar eclipses per year, and about 29% of those are total eclipses (blood moons).
  • From one location, clear, visible blood moons average roughly once every 2.5 years, because many eclipses are only visible from certain parts of the globe or happen when the sky is cloudy.
  • Sometimes there are special clusters called “tetrads” (four total lunar eclipses in a row, about six months apart); those are rarer patterns that vary over the centuries.

A simple way to think about it

If you follow global astronomy calendars, you’ll see blood moons listed fairly regularly over a decade, but from your backyard you’re likely to catch a truly good, visible one only every few years, depending on weather and time of night.

TL;DR: Blood moons (total lunar eclipses) occur globally a couple of times per year, but for any given location, expect a good view roughly every 2–3 years on average.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.