Negative leap second risk is driving an October 2026 CGPM vote to replace the 54-year-old leap second with a leap hour. Earth set rotation speed records in 2024 and 2025, and timekeepers estimate a 30% chance the unprecedented event could hit before 2035 — an outcome with no software patch history
1 leap second annually would result in having 1 leap hour every 3600 years. But we have them less than annually, so it would take even longer. How are they getting to the 50 year figure?
Also: why would 1 leap second mean that two seconds disappear? It should go from :58 to :00 - that’s one leap second. 0:57 to :00 is two leap seconds.