A leap year beginning on Tuesday is a calendar year in the Gregorian system whose January 1 falls on a Tuesday and which contains February 29. Such years produce a distinctive arrangement of weekdays for each date and thus determine the weekday for annual observances, holidays and recurring events. For a general definition of leap years see leap year and for the weekday name see Tuesday.
Examples and recent occurrences
Historical and forthcoming instances of this pattern include 1924, 1952, 1980, 2008, 2036, 2064 and 2092 in the Gregorian calendar. Representative mentions and year lists are available in many calendar references; for sample years see 1924, 1952, 1980, 2008 and 2036. The Gregorian system itself is described at Gregorian calendar.
Calendar characteristics
Because a leap year contains 366 days (52 weeks plus two days), the weekday of a given date shifts by two days forward when comparing that year to the next. When January 1 is a Tuesday, the leap day, February 29, falls on a Friday, and many commonly observed holidays fall on particular weekdays. This layout influences planning, business schedules, school terms and weekday-sensitive traditions.
Holidays and notable dates
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day: January 21 (the latest possible date for that observance).
- Valentine’s Day: Thursday.
- Presidents Day: February 18.
- Leap day (February 29): Friday.
- St. Patrick’s Day: Monday.
- Mother’s Day: May 11; Memorial Day: May 26.
- Father’s Day: June 15 (earliest possible date for that observance).
- Independence Day (July 4): Friday; Labor Day: September 1 (earliest possible date).
- Columbus Day: October 13; Halloween: Friday; Veterans Day: Tuesday.
- Thanksgiving: November 27; Christmas: Thursday.
Friday the 13th and comparisons
This leap-year pattern is notable for producing only one Friday the 13th in the year: June. That trait is shared by two other leap-year start patterns (leap years that begin on Friday and on Saturday), and a similar single-Friday-13th occurrence in common years is observed when a common year begins on Wednesday; see Leap year starting on Friday, Leap year starting on Saturday and Common year starting on Wednesday for comparisons.
Frequency and recurrence
Leap years occur generally every four years in the Gregorian calendar, with the well-known exception that years divisible by 100 are not leap years unless they are also divisible by 400. Within a century the pattern of which weekdays leap years begin on often repeats in cycles (commonly a 28-year cycle), but the century rule can break that simple repetition. The specific distribution of weekdays for dates in a leap year beginning on Tuesday follows directly from the weekday placement of January 1 combined with the extra day in February.
For calendar planning, historical research, and software that models dates, recognizing the structure of a leap year starting on Tuesday helps predict weekday alignment for any date in that year and compare it with other year types. For further reading and calendar tables consult the linked references above and general calendar resources provided by national and international timekeeping authorities.