When I was researching leap years for my last post about the fascinating year that 2024 is, I happened to learn for the first time (that I recall) that leap years are skipped once every one to two hundred years! Coincidentally, most of us living now will not experience a year during our lifetimes in which we don’t have a leap year every 4 years.

The last time a leap year was skipped over was 1900 and the next time is 2100. Some of you who are young enough now will certainly make it to the next one, in which Feb 28, 2100 will be the last day of the month and there will not be a 29th added. Some of my peers might make it then if they are particularly long-lived, or living to 115+ becomes more regular.

I don’t know why it didn’t stick with me the first time I read that article, but is it coincidence that the leap year cycle also matches up to US has presidential election years and the summer Olympics? It certainly makes all of them easier to remember, whether intentional or not.

Also, I had never considered how confusing the term “leap year” could be — you could easily think that a leap year would be the opposite of what it is, and we “leap” over a day. But the framing is completely different and I encourage you to read the article to see how the Smithsonian explains it.