January 2028: a leap year opens on a Saturday
January 2028, week one. The leap year has opened on a Saturday, which no leap year has managed since 2000. Thirty-one days now stretch ahead to Monday 31 January. The month holds five Saturdays, five Sundays and five Mondays, with 21 business days threaded between them. Two eclipses are booked for the Wednesdays, and Italy has the snow. It is a full sheet for a month with a quiet reputation.
The arithmetic of a Saturday start
The month runs 31 days, 21 business days and 10 weekend days. Week numbers read 52, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The first two days of the year still belong to week 52 of 2027. The wall chart absorbs this without complaint.
Saturdays land on the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th. Sundays stack up on the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th. Mondays bring up the rear on the 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st.
A leap year last opened on a Saturday in 2000, and in 1972 before that. The calendar repeats on a 28-year echo, and no century has interrupted it this cycle. The superstitious can relax as well: 13 January is a Thursday, and 2028 waits until October for its unlucky Friday.
Two midweek eclipses
The full moon on Wednesday 12 January arrives with a partial lunar eclipse. About 3 per cent of the moon will sit in shadow, a shallow bite rather than a spectacle. The Americas, Europe and Africa get the view.
The new moon returns the favour fourteen days later, on Wednesday 26 January, carrying an annular solar eclipse. Annularity clips Ecuador, Peru and Brazil on the way, then ends at sunset over Spain and Portugal. Much of Europe, northwestern Africa and the Americas catch partial phases.
The rest of the lunar month stays calm. First quarter came on Wednesday 5 January, with last quarter due on Tuesday 18 January. Our correspondent plans to be outdoors on both eclipse Wednesdays, which in January counts as optimism.
Snow in Italy, a final in New Orleans
The Winter Youth Olympic Games open on Saturday 15 January and run to Saturday 29 January. Bormio, Livigno and Stelvio are among the venues, spread across Trentino, Valtellina and Cortina d'Ampezzo. Italy stages its first Youth Games, the fifth winter edition, with 74 events across 7 sports.
The same mountains staged the 2026 winter Olympics. The fortnight is a preview of the generation pointing at the 2030 winter Games. Most of it will reach fans as short clips on small screens. The host valleys take a quiet-season lift in return.
American college football closes its season on Monday 24 January at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The building last held the title game in January 2020. Between the sky, the snow and the scoreboard, the month does not want for viewing.
The month closes on Monday 31 January with both eclipses spent and the Youth Games folded away. February follows on a Tuesday, carrying the year's spare day.