Before we go to bed tomorrow night we need to remember to set our clocks one hour ahead. Daylight saving time officially begins at 2 a.m. on March 14th. Each Spring we move our clocks one hour ahead (“Spring forward”) which means we lose an hour during the night. This occurs on the second Sunday in March at 2 a.m.when we move one hour ahead of Standard Time. We do this again in the Fall on the first Sunday in November at 2 a.m. and we set our clocks back one hour and return to Standard Time which means we gain an extra hour.  

Daylight Saving Time was first seen in the United States during World War I in order to save energy for war production by taking advantage of longer hours of daylight between April and October. It came up again during World War II and the government required the states to observe the time change. During the wars and the years following, some states and communities chose to observe Daylight Saving Time and others did not. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act and that set the standard of the length of Daylight Saving Time.

Since 2007, Daylight Saving Time is four weeks longer than it had been over the past decades due to the passage of the Energy Policy Act in 2005. The intent of this Act was to save 10,000 barrels of oil daily because of the reduced use of power by businesses during the day.

If you live in Arizona, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, those areas don’t observe Daylight Saving Time and therefore, won’t be loosing any sleep!

TIP:  This is also the perfect time to check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

[Image Source]

Related Posts