Why do we ‘fall back’ in November? We answer your questions.
Daylight saving time ended today, with the time officially changing at 2 a.m. While it was still light enough for trick-or-treating on Friday, the time change hit two days after Halloween, when most of the US adjusted the clocks backward one hour.
The time shift is notorious for disrupting sleep patterns and schedules. Some politicians are advocating for the abolition of time changes and the permanent adoption of daylight saving time, or DST. If you, too, dislike how early it’s getting dark each day, just remember that brighter evenings will return in early March.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.When does daylight saving time end?
Daylight saving time in the US ends at 2 a.m. local time Sunday, Nov. 2. It will return at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, March 8. The end of DST has the motto «fall back», whereas in March, we’ll «spring forward.»
The US isn’t alone in observing daylight saving time. Check out this list of other countries that use DST, along with their start and end dates.Daylight saving time vs. standard time
The exact start dates for daylight saving time and standard time float a little. DST kicks off on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November with the return of standard time.
We spend about eight months of the year in DST. We can thank the Uniform Time Act of 1966 for bringing some order to what had been a complicated history of time changes in the US.
«Motivated by transportation improvements, this act mandated standard time within the existing time zones and established a permanent system of uniform DST, including the dates and times for twice-yearly transitions», the Bureau of Transportation Statistics states in a history of time zones.
The country’s time zones date to the railroad boom of the late 1800s. DST formally entered the chat in 1918, but its application was inconsistent until 1966. The country tried out a year-round daylight saving time in January 1974 under President Richard Nixon as a way to address the energy crisis. It didn’t go over well. Congress and President Gerald Ford restored standard time in October 1974.
If you truly hate time changes, then consider moving to Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation) or Hawaii. Those states are on standard time all year long and their residents don’t have to deal with the physical and mental health impacts of the change.
