February 24, 2022
By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Christian Sayles
The second month of the year is coming to a close, but will it have an extra day added this year? Short answer? No. Longer, more interesting answer? It’s not a leap year yet!
A large part of the world follows the Gregorian calendar which was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII a long time ago back in 1582. In fact, this calendar was a modification of the Julian calendar which was introduced by Julius Caesar in the year 708 A.D. The reason for the Julian calendar’s retirement was in order to give space for leap years which require an extra day to be added.
Did you know that one calendar year comprises 365.25 days? The quarter remaining totals an extra day every four years. Birthing the need for leap years in order to remain on track in terms of our seasons. For example, if we were not to have this extra day allotted over time, then we would eventually experience chilly temperatures during the summer months and warm temperatures during the winter months. Imagine going outside in the middle of winter across the East Coast and it’s 90 degrees, that would be horrible!
By integrating to the Gregorian calendar and adding an extra day to the month of February which would be “February 29,” we make sure that we stay in balance with the earth and its rotational pattern around the sun. It’s interesting though, because February 29 only happens every 4 years, so if you have a birthday or an anniversary on that day then you’ll have to wait for 4 years in order to truly celebrate (sorry!).
It has become normal to coin the day “Leap Day,” where anyone born on Leap Day celebrate it as “leaplings” or “leapers” since their birthday only comes around every 4 years. The bad news, this year is not a leap year since it is only 2022, but the good news is the next leap year is 2024, only 2 years or about 730 and a half days away! From that point, the following leap years would be 2028, 2032 and 2036.
If you ever wonder again if the current year is a leap year, a good way of checking is to divide the last two digits by 4 and if the quotient is a whole number, then it’s a leap year. For example, for 2022 you would divide 22 by 4 which provides the quotient of 5.5, which is not a whole number. For 2024, if you divided 24 by 4, then the quotient would be 6, which is a whole number.
There is one exception to this rule: when the years 2100, 2200 and 2300 and so forth comes around, you would need to divide the last three digits by 4 (i.e., 100 divided by 4) in order for your calculation to remain valid. Happy counting!
Sources: Britannica
Story Image: The calendar month of February in high resolution in 2011. (Wikimedia Commons)
