Time change Is This Weekend: It’s Time To ‘Spring Forward’ 1 Hour

Daylight Saving Time starts this weekend, meaning it’s time for people around the U.S. to set their clocks ahead one hour before going to bed Saturday night (March 10).

Daylight Saving Time officially start 2 a.m. Sunday, when clocks are moved ahead one hour to 3 a.m.

The good news is most electronic devices – cell phones, computers, some car clocks, etc. – are programmed to advance automatically. The bad news is most clocks and watches are not, meaning you will have to make the change yourself.

More Light In The Evening Hours

Sunrise and sunset will be about one hour later on March 11 than the day before, meaning more light in the evening hours. The time will change again on Nov. 4 when clocks will move back one hour.
The idea dates to Benjamin Franklin, who first proposed the idea as a way to conserve energy.  DST – then known as “fast time” – was instituted in World War I in several countries, including the U.S., but abandoned shortly after the war ended. It was revived in 1942 by President Franklin Roosevelt and utilized during World War II.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, establishing schedules for daylight saving time and eliminating the problem of local governments setting their own. In 2005, President George W. Bush extended daylight saving time for an extra four weeks, setting the start date each year as the second Sunday of March with an ending day on the first Sunday of November.

The time-change idea is not without controversy. Hawaii and Arizona don’t observe Daylight Saving Time and just this year, Florida legislators passed a measure that would allow the Sunshine State to remain on DST year-round. The measure is awaiting Gov. Rick Scott’s signature and would require Congressional approval before it could be instituted.

Internationally, only about 40 percent of the world’s countries observe DST.

The beginning of DST doesn’t signal the official start of spring, however. The vernal (or spring) equinox will be on March 20 at 11:15 a.m. this year.