Why do we have a leap year (as in this year) and why is it in February?
The issue of leap year and the weirdness of February is always worth looking at because, coming so infrequently, who can remember the explanation for it from the last time?
The earth revolves around the sun every 365.24 days, not an even 365. That produces an extra day's worth of hours every four years. We could distribute them as a bonus to everyone--a one-day time-out every fourth year in which the clock is stopped and we stay in bed all day. But we don't. Instead we add an extra day onto February.
Why February? It was originally the last month on the Roman calendar and a logical place to stick the extra day. But Julius Caesar changed the first month to January, stranding February and its little peculiarity in the second spot.
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