Leap Day
When is Leap Day? The next Leap Day is February 29, 2024
Leap Day is every fours years….almost. It’s every four years except years ending with “00” that are not divisible by 400. The year in which Leap Day occurs, is called a Leap Year. There are no other February 29 holidays or events.
Why the fancy calculation? The earth rotates around the sun once every 365 and about 1/4 days. So, by adding an extra day every four years, we get mighty close to keeping the calendar consistent with the earth’s annual trip around the sun. And to be very precise, the earth orbits the sun every 365.242190 days. So, on years ending in “00”, [except those not divisible by 400] we skip Leap Year and Leap Day. With all that fancy calculating out of the way, let’s just celebrate the day.
Did you know? There are occasional “Leap Seconds”. We will spare you the detail on those, except to say it helps to correct minor variations. On December 31, 2015, the folks who maintain the official time for the planet, added an extra second to the day! Did you enjoy the extra time?
If your birthday is on Leap Day, congratulations, you finally get to celebrate your birthday on your birth date. Just how many of us are celebrating our Birthday on Leap Day? Only about one in 1461 people. If you were born on this day, consider yourself very, very special.
Today's Quote
“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.” – – George Burns
More About Today
Holiday Insights, where every day in February is a holiday, a bizarre or wacky day, an observance, or a special event. Join us in the daily calendar fun each and every day of the year.
Did You Know? There are literally thousands of daily holidays, special events, and observances, more than one for every day of the year. Many of these holidays are new. People and organizations are creating new holidays regularly. February holidays are no exception. Consequently, at Holiday Insights, we take great efforts to thoroughly research and document the details of each one, as completely and accurately as possible.
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As you’re nearing the end of February, dates can get confusing. The irregular month, already unique in its 28-day length, sometimes has a 29th day, also known as Leap Day.
This is even worse for the 5 million people with Leap Day birthdays, according to a History estimate, whose real birthdays come only once every four years.
This phenomenon may cause you a small inconvenience, but leap years are not just a cruel trick calendar companies play to keep you guessing. There’s actually a very good astronomical reason for the added day — but we’ll get into that later.
When is the next leap year?
Generally speaking, leap years come every four years: 2024, 2028 and 2032, for example, will all be leap years.
Usually, if a year is divisible by 4, that makes it a leap year, but this rule does not hold for years which are multiples of one hundred, according to History.com. Although the Earth’s orbit around the sun was previously thought to be 365.25 days, it actually takes closer to 365.24 days says History.com.
To fix this small discrepancy, century years which are not divisible by 400 are not leap years. The year 2000 was a leap year, but the year 2100 will not be.
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Just curious? We're here to answer life's everyday questions
Why do we have leap years?
Because the amount of time the Earth takes to spin on its axis is not dependent on the amount of time the Earth takes to complete a full orbit around the sun, the number of 24-hour rotations that fit into a calendar year is not a whole number.
According to History, a leap year is the solution to this. Just one extra day every four years keeps our calendar lined up correctly with the orbit of the Earth, meaning winter stays winter, and summer stays summer.
How many days are in a leap year?
There are 366 days in a leap year — one more than the typical 365-day year.
When was the last leap year?
Until 2024, 2020 would have been the most recent leap year.