Here’s When and Why We Get a Bonus Day in February 2024 (2024)

Time flies when you're having fun—or just simply existing in February, the shortest month of the year!

Every year, the monotonous pattern of 30 or 31-day months is broken up by the short and sweet month of February that's only 29 days long. To shake things up even more, this wild card month gets even briefer once every four years, including in 2024! So why does the length of the gateway month to spring vary so much?

Well, you probably already know that there are 365 days in a year, but if we're being more precise it's 365.2422 days. And during leap years, the calendar expands to 366 days in order to address the discrepancy that would accumulate to a loss of 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds each year! Thankfully, February 29 allows us to reclaim that lost time. Phew!

This bonus day also stops our calendar and the natural seasons from slowly drifting apart at a rate of 24 days per century. Without the leap year, our calendar would fail to synchronize with the solar calendar, pushing seasonal events such as the spring equinox out of harmony. If these facts have broadened your appreciation for the calendar phenomenon, you might be wondering when exactly the next leap year will be. We're here to tell you that the leap year is closer than you think. Read on to learn more about the origin of the leap year and when it will occur in future years.

Is 2024 a leap year?

Yes, 2024 is a leap year. For the first time since 2020, we have an extra day in February. This year, Leap Day falls on Thursday, February 29, 2024. The next time the shortest month of the year will get an extra day will be in 2028, so make sure to savor the extra day while we've got it!

Why are there 28 days in February?

The origin of February's 28-day length can be traced back to ancient Rome. The Roman calendar, initially based on a lunar system, featured a year that lasted for 355 days. This change was facilitated by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, who added January and February to the end of the lunar calendar, which was previously just ten months long. In an attempt to synchronize the calendar with the solar year like the Egyptians, the Romans introduced the concept of the leap year with the Julian calendar, named after Julius Caesar.

The Julian calendar added around ten days to each year, making each month either 30 or 31 days long, except for February. February, the last month in their calendar, was designated with 28 days, while an extra day was added every four years during a leap year. This adjustment aimed to align the calendar with the Earth's orbit around the sun. Although the modern calendar has evolved, with adjustments made by the Gregorian calendar reform in 1582, the legacy of February's 28 days persists, maintaining a connection to ancient Roman efforts to reconcile lunar and solar cycles.

Which future years have 29 days in February?

In the near future, the years 2024, 2028, and 2032 will have 29 days in February as they're leap years. Beyond that, the years 2036, 2040, 2044, 2048, 2052, 2056, 2060, 2064, 2068, 2072, 2076, 2080, 2084, 2088, 2092, and 2096 will also be leap years with 29 days.

What happens if you are born on Feb 29?

It's your (birthday) party, and you can cry if you want to—unless you were born on February 29 and it's a non-leap year because in that case, there's no birthday to have a party for, much less cry about! Just kidding ... kind of. In addition to people's incredulous reactions and age jokes that come with being born on February 29, Leap Day babies typically have to celebrate their birthday before or after the date on their birth certificate, on February 28 or March 1. So yes, you can have a birthday party, but for most of your life, it'll be a belated or early one. As for legal documents and forms of identification, February 29 is still the official date that's used.