We will soon have to set our clocks back an hour because it is already the middle of October. People who need a reminder can say “spring forward, fall back” to remember that we have to turn our clocks back an hour to mark the official return to Standard Time. This change not only makes the sun go down earlier, but it also gives us an extra hour of sleep, which is something we all want every year.
When Will the Daylight Saving Time Change Happen?
On November 3, 2024, Sunday, the time will change to Standard Time. Tomorrow, April 30, is the last day of Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the United States. The clocks will go back one hour at 2:00 a.m. People who depend on electronics like computers and smartphones don’t need to worry… Most of these devices will make the switch for you because they have built-in calendars that can tell the time of day.
But on Sunday morning, if you have a grandfather’s clock, you should pay attention to it. It’s simple to forget about it and show up an hour early for a meeting two weeks later. Microwaves, ovens, traditional clocks, older car models, and wristwatches are some other devices that will need to be adjusted by hand.
Like to plan ahead? If you already have a calendar for 2025, you might want to mark the next hour change as well. The clocks will move forward one hour on Sunday, March 9, 2025, to start Daylight Saving Time. They will be set back one hour on Sunday, November 2, 2025, to stop it.
Which States and U.S. Territories Do Not Participate in DST?
Some states and U.S. regions have chosen not to change their clocks during Daylight Savings Time (DST), but 48 states do. Because of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, each state and territory can decide for itself whether to join in Daylight Savings Time (DST). This means that some places stay on Standard Time all year.
Hawaii, on the other hand, doesn’t have to change their plan much to find more evening daylight because their daylight hours are stable. Because this state is closer to the equator, the length of day and night doesn’t change as much from year to year. Hawaii has been on Standard Time all year since 1967.
The state of Arizona, on the other hand, chose to stay on Standard Time so that evenings would not be longer and hotter. It is known for being very hot there, so trying to find more peak heat hours would have been annoying and even dangerous for the people who live there.
Arizona introduced DST for the first time in 1918, but stopped using it in 1968 because people didn’t like it. In one case, though, the Navajo Nation, which includes parts of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, still uses DST to stay in sync with states that do the same. In Arizona, this makes things interesting because some parts of the state follow DST while others do not.
A lot of U.S. regions don’t use DST either, mostly because they are in tropical areas close to the equator and have pretty stable sunrise and sunset times all year. They don’t change the clocks in American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Daylight Saving Time is not a new idea. Benjamin Franklin first came up with the idea in 1784 as a way to save candles. While DST was officially used for the first time in 1916 in Germany, it wasn’t until the start of World War I. The U.S. followed suit in 1918, and after a few changes, the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which set up the current DST system, became law.
Be careful: when you wake up after a scary Halloween weekend, make sure you check everything in your home and office to make sure it will work at the right time. This will be the wrong time for you for the next six months if you don’t!
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