PENNSYLVANIA, USA — It's officially the new year, but is 2024 also a leap year?
Unlike most years, which have 365 days, leap years consist of 366 and happen every four years. The last leap year was in 2020, which means 2024 will include an extra day!
This year's leap day will be on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, according to CBS News.
Leap years keep the Gregorian calendar in check for humans. The calendar accounts for 365 days, but it takes the Earth a bit more than a year to orbit around the sun.
Without leap years, calendars and seasons would gradually fall out of sync, impacting planting and harvesting, according to CBS News.
To account for the difference, an extra day is tacked onto February every leap year, giving the month 29 days instead of 28.
That small difference adds up.
"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," according to an article by NASA. "Eventually, in a few hundred years, July would actually take place in the cold winter months!"
Leap years won't happen every four years, however. To ensure hours remain consistent, a leap year hopscotch is in place.
Summed up, the leap year is skipped if it falls on the start of a century, unless that year is divisible by 400. In 2000, the leap year wasn't skipped, but it will be in 2100.