Inauguration Day a palindrome that won’t happen again for 1,000 years

Inauguration Day 2021 will go down in the history books for many reasons, including the swearing in of Kamala Harris, the first female vice president. But the numbers that make up the day’s date on the calendar are special as well. Jan. 20, 2021, when delivered in American numerical format (month-day-year), is a palindrome, meaning it can be read the same forward and backward — 1-20-21. 

According to The Farmers’ Almanac, this will be the first palindrome-number Inauguration Day in American history. Maybe your descendants from the far-off future living in Martian colonies will see the next one, which won’t be until 1-20-3021, assuming man is still alive, and woman can survive. 

And Wednesday is just the start of the trend.

“1-20-21 begins the first of 10 consecutive palindrome dates (numbers that read the same forward and backward) in the five-digit format,” The Farmers’ Almanac tweeted. “There will be a TOTAL of 22 palindrome dates in 2021.”

Wednesday kicks off 10 palindrome dates in a row. The dates of 1-20-21, 1-21-21, 1-22-21, 1-23-21, 1-24-21, 1-25-21, 1-26-21, 1-27-21, 1-28-21 and 1-29-21 all read the same forward and backward. While these dates are all five-digit palindromes, the month has already seen a four-digit palindrome — back on Jan. 2, when the date could be written as 1-2-21. You can also write Jan. 20, 2021, as a seven digit palindrome if you write out the entire year, 1-20-2021.

Come December, there will be nine consecutive six-digit palindromes, The Farmers’ Almanac notes, beginning with the first day of the month, and including the dates 12-1-21, 12-2-21, 12-3-21, 12-4-21, 12-5-21, 12-6-21, 12-7-21, 12-8-21 and 12-9-21. And Dec. 2, 2021 can double as an eight-digit palindrome, 12-02-2021.

The 2020 Super Bowl also fell on a palindrome date — 02-02-2020.