GoKawiilCGPM votes to abolish the leap second, adopting a future 'leap hour' instead
Member states of the General Conference on Weights and Measures voted on 15 October to end the practice of adding leap seconds to Universal Coordinated Time, a change originally scheduled for 2035. In its place, timekeepers will allow a full hour of drift to accumulate between atomic time and Earth's rotation-based time before making a single correction, a threshold not expected to be reached for thousands of years.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Leap seconds have long caused glitches in computing systems that struggle to handle an extra second being inserted into the clock, so removing them could reduce disruptions to software and networks reliant on precise timekeeping. Metrologist Noël Dimarcq described the move as creating a reference time scale that is continuous for millennia, suggesting the decision is meant to future-proof global timekeeping rather than solve an urgent problem.
- CGPM voted on 15 October to eliminate leap seconds ahead of the previously planned 2035 phase-out.
- A 'leap hour' correction will replace leap seconds but likely won't be needed for thousands of years.
- The resolution passed by majority vote, not unanimously, among member states.
Source: nature.com — Gibney, 2026-10-15
Published there as: “World's timekeepers upend how they adjust time to avoid catastrophic 'negative second'”
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