A Rare Edition of The Mountain Messenger is Coming

While looking at this year’s calendar, we were surprised to see the newspaper would be published five times in February: on the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th.

After some research, we found previous occurrences — in 1996, 1968, 1940, 1912, and 1872.

Yes, the paper has been printed on February 29th every 28 years since 1853. The next occurrence will take place in 2052.

Why did this not happen in 1900?

According to the United States Naval Observatory, the rule for leap years is: Every year exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400. For example, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the year 2000 is.