Community Corner

Reset Your Clocks Sunday – Goodbye, Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time goes back into hibernation on Sunday, Nov. 3. Don't forget to move your clocks back! (Remember, "fall back" and "spring ahead.")

Remember that hour you lost in March? 

Now you can get it back.

Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, which means that official time suddenly slams into reverse and leaps back an hour to become 1 a.m. again. 

However, if you happen to live in Hawaii or certain parts of Arizona that eschew Daylight Saving Time, you can't leave your clocks alone. 

Shrouded origin of Daylight Saving Time

If you want to know whom to thank or blame for Daylight Saving Time, you have a choice of targets.

Many people attribute the suggestion to Benjamin Franklin. The proposal's modern revival is traced by some to a New Zealand entomologist who presented the idea in a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society.

"The idea of daylight saving time was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 during his stay in Paris," according to the website timeanddate.com. "He published an essay titled 'An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light' that proposed to economize the use of candles by rising earlier to make use of the morning sunlight."

However, it's not clear whether Franklin's idea was tongue-in-cheek. In 1895, it was sincerely and unsuccessfully proposed by New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson. It was proposed again in 1905 and promoted by Englishman William Willet as British Summer Time, which never made it into law.

"DST was first adopted to replace artificial lighting so they could save fuel for the war effort in Germany during World War I at 11:00pm (23:00) on April 30, 1916," according to timeanddate.com. "It was quickly followed by Britain and many countries from both sides, including the United States. Many countries reverted back to standard time post-World War I, and it wasn’t until the next World War that DST would make its return to many countries in order to save vital energy resources for the war."
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There was widespread confusion in the United States for the next two decades after World War II as some areas adopted Daylight Saving Time and some didn't. Congress stepped in with the Uniform Time of Act of 1966, which paved the way for more widespread and consistent use.

The dates when Daylight Saving Time begins and ends in the United States have changed several times. Currently federal law prescribes that it begin on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November.



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