{"id":610708,"date":"2024-02-29T08:29:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T05:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/what-is-a-leap-year-and-why-do-they-happen-everything-to-know-about-leap-day\/"},"modified":"2024-02-29T08:29:34","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T05:29:34","slug":"what-is-a-leap-year-and-why-do-they-happen-everything-to-know-about-leap-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-leap-year-and-why-do-they-happen-everything-to-know-about-leap-day\/","title":{"rendered":"#What is a leap year, and why do they happen? Everything to know about Leap Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3df4b45da87\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3df4b45da87\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-leap-year-and-why-do-they-happen-everything-to-know-about-leap-day\/#What_is_the_purpose_of_a_leap_year\" >What is the purpose of a leap year?\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-leap-year-and-why-do-they-happen-everything-to-know-about-leap-day\/#Why_is_Leap_Day_in_February\" >Why is Leap Day in February?\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-leap-year-and-why-do-they-happen-everything-to-know-about-leap-day\/#When_is_the_next_leap_year\" >When is the next leap year?\u00a0<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-a-leap-year-and-why-do-they-happen-everything-to-know-about-leap-day\/#More_from_CBS_News\" >More from CBS News<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div id=\"\">This February will be a little longer than usual. It&#8217;s a <span class=\"link\">leap year<\/span>, and in 2024, Leap Day falls on Friday, Feb. 29. The calendar oddity means this year is actually 366 days long, instead of the regular 365.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s why leap years occur.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_the_purpose_of_a_leap_year\"><\/span>What is the purpose of a leap year?\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Leap years exist because while the world follows a 365-day Gregorian calendar, it actually takes the planet a little bit more than a year to orbit the sun. It takes Earth 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to orbit the sun, according to NASA \u2014 and while that is rounded down to the 365 days we recognize as a typical year, those nearly six extra hours don&#8217;t dis<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ear.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"newsletter_signup \">\n<figure class=\"embed embed--type-newsletter-widget embed--float-none embed--size-large embed--type-iframe\" data-ads=\"{\" wordcount=\"\"><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Instead, leap years are added to account for the difference. The extra day keeps calendars and seasons from gradually falling out of sync and impacting harvesting, planting and other cycles based on the seasons. Without Leap Days, in 100 years, calendars would be 24 days off, CBS Minnesota reported, and in 700 years, Northern Hemisphere summers would begin in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For example, say that July is a warm, summer month where you live. If we never had leap years, all those missing hours would add up into days, weeks and even months,&#8221;\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/spaceplace.nasa.gov\/leap-year\/en\/\">NASA<\/a>\u00a0said online. &#8220;Eventually, in a few hundred years, July would actually take place in the cold winter months!&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_is_Leap_Day_in_February\"><\/span>Why is Leap Day in February?\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s because of ancient Roman history that Leap Day falls in February.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s mostly that the Romans didn&#8217;t really like February very much,&#8221; Ben Gold, a professor of astronomy and physics at Hamline University in Saint Paul, told\u00a0<span class=\"link\">CBS Minnesota<\/span>\u00a0two leap years ago, in 2016. At the time, in the 8th century BC, the calendar was just 10\u00a0 months long, with the Romans considering winter to be all one period not divided into months. Eventually, the Romans established January and February. February, the final month, had the fewest days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Julius Caesar then adjusted the calendar to line it up with the sun, Gold explained, adding Leap Day via decree. That still didn&#8217;t fully account for the difference in time, though. That wouldn&#8217;t be fixed for hundreds more years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII adopted the Gregorian calendar, which we now use, and specified that all years that can be divided by four are leap years, with the exception of century years, which would have to be divisible by 400 to be considered leap years \u2014 so while 2000 was a leap year, 2100 and 2200 will not be.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the 1700s, British law designated Feb. 29 as Leap Day.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"When_is_the_next_leap_year\"><\/span>When is the next leap year?\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Leap years occur every four years unless it falls on a century year that cannot be divided by four. The next leap year will be in 2028. Leap Day that year will be observed on Tuesday, Feb. 29. After that, the next leap year is 2032, when Leap Day falls on Sunday, Feb. 29.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2013Aliza Chasan contributed reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>    <!-- data-recirc-source=\"queryly\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation \">\n<h3 class=\"component__title\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"More_from_CBS_News\"><\/span>More from CBS News<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/aside>\n<p><!-- tags --><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-author\">\n    Kerry Breen<\/p>\n<div class=\"content-author__bio\">\n<div class=\"content-author__image\">\n<p>        <span class=\"img \"><img alt=\"Kerry Breen \" height=\"80\" width=\"80\" class=\" lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2023\/03\/31\/1b92348b-4bb9-4670-b389-fc135e7ae869\/thumbnail\/80x80g2\/dbf0dde29cbc48335bafa791a96b7555\/7d418d43-6d39-4061-859f-011c8aa7424d.jpg?v=873773698949ef4145348bb09cabd43d 1x, https:\/\/assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2023\/03\/31\/1b92348b-4bb9-4670-b389-fc135e7ae869\/thumbnail\/160x160g2\/c5d8935bf77ca5757cfb2f4e17ce248f\/7d418d43-6d39-4061-859f-011c8aa7424d.jpg?v=873773698949ef4145348bb09cabd43d 2x\"><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-author__full-information\">\n<p class=\"content-author__text\">Kerry Breen is a reporter and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University&#8217;s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News&#8217; TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/leap-year-leap-day-2024-february\/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This February will be a little longer than usual. It&#8217;s a leap year, and in 2024, Leap Day falls on Friday, Feb. 29. The calendar oddity means this year is actually 366 days long, instead of the regular 365.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s why leap years occur.\u00a0 What is the purpose of a leap year?\u00a0 Leap years exist&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":610709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2024\/02\/23\/b1591d52-d98d-46a8-b228-4cb4eb35b606\/thumbnail\/1200x630\/bb7bda68a140888fcdc28d3d0feb974e\/gettyimages-157399650.jpg?v=873773698949ef4145348bb09cabd43d","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-610708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}