Daylight saving time: When does it start?
Ready for more sun? Daylight saving time is right around the corner.
Michigan lost an hour of sleep overnight.
Daylight saving time starts at 2 a.m. on March 10, 2024, the second Sunday of March. The morning will stay dark a little later than you’re used to, but that also means daylight will stretch an hour further into the afternoon and evening.
By the miracle of modern technology, your smartphones and watches will automatically adjust to the change. But if you have an analog watch, appliances that tell time or old-school clocks sitting around your house, you will need to adjust those yourself.
Here’s everything you need to know about the time change — and why it’s saving, not “savings,” as often mispronounced.
Daylight saving time is the time between March and November when most Americans adjust their clocks by one hour.
We lose an hour in March to “spring forward” by adding more daylight in the evenings. And we gain an hour in November and “fall back” by adding more daylight in the mornings.
The first day of spring is Tuesday, March 19, nine days after the time change.
The push to stop changing clocks was put before Congress in the last couple of years, when the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent. However, it did not pass in the U.S. House of Representatives and, therefore, was not signed into law by President Joe Biden.
A 2023 version of the act remained idle in Congress as well.
Americans experience physical health problems caused by the biannual time changes, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health. They included strokes, heart attacks, accidents and changes in mood.
Some scientists suggest that your biological clock gets out of sorts.
Other studies tie the start of daylight saving time with an increase in car accidents.
Why does daylight saving time matter?
Daylight saving time is when “daylight” begins an hour later in the morning and lasts an hour longer in the evening, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
This allows the hour of daylight to stay coordinated with the time most people are active outside. Daylight saving time is supposed to save energy since during the warmer months majority will be outside and not home which saves energy.
What states don’t participate in daylight saving time?
Not all states participate in daylight saving time. Arizona and Hawaii are the only two who have opted out.
U.S. territories that don’t participate are Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, according to an article by Knox News.
Why doesn’t Arizona and Hawaii participate in daylight saving time?
Hawaii opted out of the Uniform Time Act because of how close the state is to the equator. It makes daylight saving time unnecessary because the sun rises and sets around the same time each day year-round.
Arizona once participated in 1967, but the consumption of energy spiraled out of control. The majority of the country was saving fuel but in Arizona, they used more energy to handle the extra hour of daylight according to an article by Arizona State University.
The Navajo Nation which is the northeast corner of the state does continue to participate in daylight saving.
When does daylight saving time end in 2024?
Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, Nov. 3, the first Sunday of November.
When does daylight saving time begin in 2025?
Daylight saving time will begin again on Sunday, March 9, 2025.
Why it isn’t ‘savings’
The correct term is daylight “saving” (not savings) time, according to USA Today. However, the incorrect term “daylight savings time” is commonly used, especially in Australia, Canada and the United States. It’s also supposed to be lowercase, not uppercase, according to the Associated Press stylebook.
USA TODAY’s Emily DeLetter and Frank Witsil of the Free Press contributed to this story.
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