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What is Daylight Saving Time? When does summer time end?

What is Daylight Saving Time? When does summer time end?

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Fall is finally here and the end of daylight saving time will soon follow.

If you're looking forward to the clocks going back so you can get an extra hour of sleep, here's when Daylight Saving Time ends and what else you need to know about it.

When does fall 2024 start?: Schools are back in session. The cicadas are singing. When does autumn begin?

Here's what you need to know:

States that participate in Daylight Saving Time reset their clocks when Daylight Saving Time officially ends on the first Sunday in November each year.

Daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March, when we set our clocks forward one hour.

Yes; Indiana observes daylight saving time.

Hawaii and parts of Arizona do not participate in Daylight Saving Time. The territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also do not participate.

On Sunday, November 3, 2024, our clocks will go back at 2 a.m.

Author Michael Downing cited his book “Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time,” In an interview with Time Magazine, he stated that Amtrak and the railroads were the main reason clocks changed at 2 a.m. for Daylight Saving Time.

No trains left the station at 2 a.m. on Sundays in New York City when Daylight Saving Time was implemented.

According to Downing, “2am on Sunday morning was the time when train journeys were least disrupted across the country.”

When Daylight Saving Time ends, we set our clocks back an hour, which means we gain an hour of sleep. We lose an hour when daylight saving time begins in the spring when we set our clocks forward.

To better remember what's what, some say, “When it comes to Daylight Saving Time, we jump forward and then backward.”

On July 25, 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation determined that only Hawaii and parts of Arizona do not participate in Daylight Saving Time. The Navajo Nation is the only exception in Arizona.

The territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also do not participate.

According to the website, under the Uniform Time Act, as amended, states may exempt themselves from observing Daylight Saving Time by state law.

The goal of daylight saving time is to ensure there are more daylight hours per day for several reasons, but most importantly to save energy. There are also arguments that more daylight hours benefit public safety and health.

Daylight Saving Time was first introduced in the United States in 1918 during World War I and was known as “War Time.” After the war it was abandoned as there was no financial need to continue it at that time.

Daylight saving time as we know it today began in the United States with the Uniform Time Act of 1966, but began on the last Sunday in April and ended on the last Sunday in October.

In 2005, the start was postponed to the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November, as is the case today. A Department of Energy study found that the additional four weeks of daylight saving time in the U.S. saves about 0.5% of total electricity each day, equivalent to 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours of energy savings per year.

Summer time 2024: Summertime is here. But why does it even exist?

The Sunshine Protection Act of 2021, created to make daylight saving time the new, permanent standard time, passed the U.S. Senate unanimously in 2022 but did not pass the U.S. House of Representatives.

There is currently no news about when it will be re-addressed and then come into force.

Although the Sunshine Protection Act will unanimously pass the U.S. Senate in 2022, there is no permanent end in sight.

Daylight saving time begins on Sunday, March 9th and ends on November 2nd, 2025.

Chris Sims is a digital content producer at Midwest Connect Gannett. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisFSims.

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