February 2028: the leap day comes on a Tuesday
February 2028, day one: the year's shortest month has begun on a Tuesday and will run 29 days. The layout will look familiar to anyone who kept their sheet from February 2000. Tuesday start, Tuesday finish and one weekday ahead of the rest. That weekday is Tuesday, and the spare date is the 29th. Before the month is out, Atlanta hosts Super Bowl LXII on Sunday 13 February. The count runs to 21 business days and 8 weekend days, and the arithmetic behaves itself throughout.
Borrowed from 2000
The 29 days spread across ISO weeks 5 to 9. Tuesdays occur on the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th. Every other weekday turns up exactly four times, a tidy ledger with one extra entry.
That extra entry is the leap day, Tuesday 29 February. It is the first Tuesday leap day since 2000, and the whole month repeats February 2000 exactly. A 28-day February would have supplied 20 business days; this one supplies 21.
Anyone born on the 29th gets a true birthday for the first time since 2024. The rest of us get a longer month and slightly more arithmetic. Weekend days total 8, four Saturdays and four Sundays.
Atlanta's fourth Super Bowl
Super Bowl LXII takes over Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Sunday 13 February. The city hosts its fourth game and its first since February 2019. The stadium last held the game that same month. American viewers get the broadcast on CBS, under a fixture the NFL awarded in October 2024.
The fortnight around the game fills the city well beyond the stadium's seats. Hotels were booked early and priced accordingly, and much of America has planned an evening around the broadcast. Our correspondent will watch from a sofa, like a good share of the hemisphere.
Sixteen days separate the final whistle from the leap day. One distinction arrives loud, the other with a packed lunch. Between them they give February its two claims to fame.
The moon's Thursday appointments
First quarter falls on Thursday 3 February. The full moon follows on Thursday 10 February, and last quarter holds the slot on Thursday 17 February. Only the new moon breaks rank, on Friday 25 February.
No eclipse falls anywhere in the month, after January collected two. The phases hold their Thursday run for three weeks, then finish quietly on the Friday. February keeps its sky plain, which after January feels like restraint.
February ends on the same weekday it began, a loop only a leap February manages. March opens on a Wednesday with 23 business days, the quarter's heaviest.