Re: Moon's cycle and Earth's temps connection?

The light from the moon is far too small to directly heat the Earth enough to change the weather. The only effect of the Moon on meteorology that I know of is the "atmospheric tide", which is just like the ocean tide, but is a much smaller effect. The atmospheric tide causes small air pressure changes, but I don't think this has any significant effect on weather or temperature.

My first reaction upon seeing your question was this: you will only notice the full moon when the sky is clear. Clear skies mean cold weather at night (explained below). On warm, cloudy nights you'll never be able to see if the moon is full or not.

It's cold at night during clear weather for two reasons: first, clouds act as an insulating blanket to reflect infrared radiation back down to ground level: without clouds, this "heat radiation" escapes to space. Second, warm air holds more water vapor than cold air, so it has more potential to form clouds (which are made from water vapor).

A second, more astronomical idea: The moon appears to roughly follow the same path through the sky as the Sun does. This path (the "ecliptic") is tilted with respect to the Earth's rotation axis. During the full moon, the moon is on the opposite side of the sky as the sun. During the winter, the sun is low in the sky and not above the horizon for long: during the summer, it's higher up and out for longer. The full moon on the opposite side of the sky follows the opposite cycle: it's higher and visible for a longer time during the winter... which means you're more likely to see the full moon during the winter, which is coincidentally the coldest time of the year.

In summary, I doubt the moon has a meteorological effect: I think you're just more likely to notice the full moon when it's cold.