Daylight Saving Time Begins – Set Your Clocks Forward Perhaps For the Last Time in April

Photo by Anka Draganski

No-one likes to “lose” an hour of their Sunday, but at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April, Daylight Saving Time begins in the United States (except Arizona), Canada (except Saskatchewan), and Mexico. It will last until the last Sunday of October. This means an extra hour of daylight will be “added” to the evenings.

For countries in the European Union, Daylight Saving Time began a week earlier, on the last Sunday in March. Interestlingly, each country changes their clocks at the same moment (1 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time) whereas in the United States each time zone adopts Daylight Saving at a different time (except Arizona, which doesn’t observe it).

Daylight Saving (known as “Summer Time” in Europe) was first adopted by Germany in 1916 (during World War I) and by the United Kingdom the following month. It was enacted by the U.S. Congress two years later but was so unpopular it was repealed after seven months. It was reinstated in the U.S. in 1942, during World War II, in order to conserve energy.

Next year the U.S. will begin Daylight Saving Time two weeks earlier, on the second Sunday of March, in an attempt to save resources. The expectation is the time shift will align work and activity with daylight hours and so less artificial light will be needed. The U.S. Department of Energy will study the impact of the change, which may be reversed if there is little effect upon energy conservation.