Current:Home > ScamsIs 2024 a leap year? What is leap day? What to know about the elusive 366th date of the year -Global Capital Summit
Is 2024 a leap year? What is leap day? What to know about the elusive 366th date of the year
View
Date:2025-04-12 20:12:20
2024 is upon us and with the new year comes new goals and checklists. If you were unable to achieve your goals in 2023, the good news is that you'll have an extra day in 2024 to catch up on those!
We're entering a leap year, which means February 2024 will have an extra day added to the calendar. Leap days come every four years, so this our first such year since 2020 and will be our only one until 2028 comes around.
Here's what to know about leap day, when it falls and why it's a part of our calendar.
Earth gained 75 million humans in 2023:The US population grew at half the global rate
When is leap day?
Leap day is on Feb. 29, 2024.
While February usually has 28 days (the shortest month of the year), every four years it gets an additional day, i.e. leap day. The last leap day was in 2020.
Leap Day birthday math:How old would you be if you were born on Leap Day?
What is leap day?
Leap day might just seem to be another day on the calendar but it essential to ensure that our planet's trip around the sun is in sync with the seasons. Earth takes just under 365¼ days to complete its orbit around the sun, according to timeanddate.com, while the year has 365 days.
If we didn't observe leap years, our seasons would be thrown off, as our equinoxes and summer and winter solstice would no longer align with the seasons.
"If there were no leap years, the seasons would completely swap every 750 years, i.e. the middle of summer would become the middle of winter − calendar climate change," astronomy expert Dr. Stephen Hughes of Queensland University of Technology said in a February 2012 (a Leap Year) article on AsianScientist.com.
Why is Feb. 29 leap day?
Choosing February for the leap year and the addition of an extra day dates back to the reforms made to the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar, who was inspired by the Egyptian solar calendar, according to History.com. The Roman calendar, at that time, was based on a lunar system and had a year of 355 days, which was shorter than the solar year. This discrepancy caused the calendar to drift out of sync with the seasons over time.
To address this issue, Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar, a solar calendar, which included a leap year system. When the Julian calendar was later refined into the Gregorian calendar in 1582, the tradition of adding a leap day to February persisted.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.
veryGood! (75)
Related
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- 2024 PGA Championship: Golf's second major of the year tees off from Valhalla. What to know.
- Cruise ship sails into New York City port with 44-foot dead whale across its bow
- 3 surfers from Australia and the U.S. were killed in Mexico's Baja California. Here's what we know.
- Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
- Jodie Turner-Smith Explains How Met Gala Dress Served as “Clean Start” After Joshua Jackson Split
- Stock market today: Global shares mixed after Wall Street’s lull stretches to a 2nd day
- Civil suit settled in shooting of Native American activist at protest of Spanish conquistador statue
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- NYC real estate developer charged with driving into woman at pro-Palestinian protest
Ranking
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- New Mexico AG again accuses Meta of failing to address child exploitation as several arrested in sting operation
- Woman seeks to drop sexual assault lawsuit against ex-Grammys CEO
- 2024 PGA Championship: Golf's second major of the year tees off from Valhalla. What to know.
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- How a Texas man is testing out-of-state abortions by asking a court to subpoena his ex-partner
- NASA delays Boeing Starliner launch after rocket issue. When is it set to happen now?
- Alleged killer of nursing student Laken Riley indicted by grand jury in Georgia on 10 counts
Recommendation
Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
Kim Kardashian Is Now At Odds With Unbearable Khloe in Kardashians Season 5 Trailer
Gambling legislation remains stalled in session’s closing hours
Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava resigns days after Miss USA Noelia Voigt steps down
Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
Indiana GOP governor nominee Mike Braun announces his choice for lieutenant governor
50 Cent Sues Ex Daphne Joy After She Accuses Him of Sexual Assault and Physical Abuse
Building collapse in South Africa sparks complex rescue operation with dozens of workers missing