2024 is a leap year so we'll see 366 days this year. 11 things to know about Feb. 29

Cheryl McCloud, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·4 min read

2024 promises to be a busy year.

We'll have a presidential election. There's the Olympics in Paris. And there's a total solar eclipse is coming in April. And that's just a few things we have to look forward to this year.

Coming up fast is leap day. Yes, 2024 is a leap year, adding an extra day to the calendar year.

Is 2024 a leap year?

Yes, it is. We'll throw an extra day into the year in 2024.

When is leap day?

Since 2024 is a leap year, there will be an extra day in February. So that Feb. 29 you see on your calendar is correct.

How often does a leap year happen?

In general, there's a leap year every four years. The last one was in 2020 and the next one will be in 2028.

However, there are some exceptions.

If the year is divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400, leap year is skipped, explained the National Air and Space Museum. The year 2000 was a leap year, but the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not.

When is the next time leap year will be skipped?

The next time a leap year will be skipped is the year 2100.

Leap rules, how to calculate when leap years will occur

Get the calculator handy.

For a leap year to occur, these three criteria must be in place, according to Time and Date:

  • The year must be evenly divisible by 4.

  • If the year also can be evenly divided by 100, it is not a leap year unless ...

  • The year also is evenly divisible by 400. If that's the case, it would be a leap year.

Confused? 2000 and 2400 are leap years, but 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200 and 2500 are not leap years.

Let's make it simple: List of upcoming leap years over the next 100 years

  • 2024

  • 2028

  • 2032

  • 2036

  • 2040

  • 2044

  • 2048

  • 2052

  • 2056

  • 2060

  • 2064

  • 2068

  • 2072

  • 2076

  • 2080

  • 2084

  • 2088

  • 2092

  • 2096

  • 2100

  • 2104

  • 2108

  • 2112

  • 2116

  • 2120

  • 2124

Plan to hang around longer? Calendar.best calculated leap years through 3000.

What do you call someone born on a leap day?

Whether you call them leapers, leaplings or leap day babies, it all means the same thing: they were born on Feb. 29.

What celebrities were born on leap day?

Town and Country Magazine and IMDb compiled lists of actors, singers, politicians and other icons born on Feb. 29. Among them are:

  • Dinah Shore, 1916

  • Ja Rule, 1976

  • Superman, OK, not a real person but his birthday is celebrated on Feb. 29

  • Mark Foster, 1984

  • Tony Robbins, 1960

  • Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, 1972

  • Jessie T. Usher, 1992

  • Peter Scanavino, 1980

  • Cullen Jones, 1984

  • U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, 1952

  • Alex Rocco, 1936

  • Jack Lousma, 1936

  • Sir Lucian Grainge, 1960

  • Steven Cree, 1980

  • Ken Foree, 1948

  • Nejat Isler, 1972

  • Michèle Morgan, 1920

  • Harvey Jason, 1940

  • Margit Carstensen, 1940

  • Yanti Somer, 1948

  • Edward Faulkner, 1932

Why do we add an extra day to the calendar?

A typical calendar year has 365 days, which is about how long it takes the earth to circle the sun.

But that's a rounded number. It actually takes the earth 365.242 days — we could go longer but you get the point — to orbit the sun. That comes to 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 56 seconds, in case you're counting, according to the National Air and Space Museum.

So if we didn't slip in a leap day occasionally, the seasons as we know them would shift.

"This would be annoying if not devastating, because over a period of about 700 years, our summers, which we’ve come to expect in June in the northern hemisphere, would begin to occur in December!" said the National Air and Space Museum.

But adding an extra day about every four years doesn't solve the problem of drifting seasons. Hold on, here comes some more rounding.

"By adding a leap day every four years, we actually make the calendar longer by over 44 minutes. Over time, these extra 44+ minutes would also cause the seasons to drift in our calendar. For this reason, not every four years is a leap year."

Why is it called a 'leap year'?

Let's use Christmas as an example. The holiday in 2023 was on Monday. Since a "common year" is 52 weeks and one day long, that means the holiday should occur on a Tuesday the following year. But since 2024 is a leap year, we'll "leap" over Tuesday and Christmas 2024 will be on a Wednesday.

Leap year trivia

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Leap year 2024. Myths, superstitions, trivia, dates, what to know