This February is a little unusual because it is a surplus year. It’s a leap year, and today — Thursday, February 29 — is Leap Day. A quirk of the calendar means that the year actually has 366 days, instead of the usual 365.
Here’s why leap years happen.
Leap years occur because while the world follows a 365-day Gregorian calendar, it actually takes the Earth a little longer to revolve around the sun. According to NASA, it takes the Earth 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to revolve around the sun — and while we recognize that as a normal year, those nearly six extra hours don’t disappear.
Leap years are added to eliminate this difference. This extra day keeps the calendar and seasons from gradually becoming out of sync and does not affect crops, seeds sown, and cycles based on other seasons. Without leap days, in 100 years, the calendar will be off by 24 days, CBS Minnesota reports, and in 700 years, the Northern Hemisphere’s summer will start in December.
“For example, let’s say July is a hot, summery month where you live. If we never get a leap year, all those missing hours will add up to days, weeks, and even months,” NASA said. Said online. “Finally, in a few hundred years, July will actually be a cold winter!”
Why is there leap day in February?
The reason for this is because of ancient Roman history that Leap Day falls in February.
“The main reason is that the Romans didn’t think February was a very nice month,” Ben Gould, a professor of astronomy and physics at Hamline University in St. Paul, told CBS Minnesota in 2016. At the time, in the 8th century BC, the calendar was only 10 months long, with the Romans considering winter as a time that was not divided into months. Finally, the Romans established January and February. February, the last month, had the fewest days.
Julius Caesar then adjusted the calendar to coincide with the sun, Gould explained, and added the leap day through decree. This still did not completely correct the difference in time. It would not heal for hundreds of years.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII adopted the Gregorian calendar that we now use, and clarified that any year that is divisible by four is a leap year, except century years, which must be divisible by 400. So that it is considered a leap year — so 2000 was a leap year, but 2100 and 2200 will not be.
In the 1700s, British law set February 29 as Leap Day.
When will be the next leap year?
Leap year occurs every four years if it is not divisible by four which is century year which cannot be divisible by four. The next leap year will be in 2028. Leap Day that year will be observed on Tuesday, February 29. After this, the next leap year is 2032, when the leap day will be on Sunday, February 29.
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