Happy Leap Year!

Eagle Lake Remembers

Leap Year already? It seems that we leap into that extra day in Leap Year more often than ever these days. February is a special month for us in many ways. It not only is our shortest month, but it’s also a respite after the Christmas and New Year’s festivities and holidays.

February is not without its own celebrations, though, with Valentine’s Day, Groundhog Day, Presidents’ Day, and of course the famous Super Bowl Sunday. February in itself is a very festive month with only 28 days, plus one day every four years.

As children, we could never quite understand why it was we had a year called Leap Year. That year seemed to add an extra day making February have 29 days every four years. When February receives the bonus day it is known as a leap year and a leap day.

In explaining it to us, our teachers would say that there are 365 days in an average year with the earth’s rotation around the sun. The simple math which we learned in class helped us understand that the standard calendar has 365 days of the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

This technically is a rounded number, as the earth takes about 365.242 days to rotate around the sun. The extra minutes accumulate into the extra 24 hours which add one day to our year every four years. The gain is settled on Leap Day, February 29.

Our leap years of 2020, 2024, 2028, 2032, 2036, 2040, and 2044 have much in common. They are also presidential election years in the US, and the Summer Olympics also occur on those years.

Our last February 29 was in 2020. After 2024, our next February 29 or leap year will be in 2028. So go out and celebrate this February 29 as our special ‘extra day’ which allows us to stay on course and keep our seasons in their places. No future July 4th in December for us!

Happy Leap Year, February 29, 2024.