Daylight saving time: Four must-know facts ahead of the clock springing forward Sunday
When you wake up Sunday morning with a sense that you should have had more time in bed, you’re not going crazy. It’s the clocks that are going crazy.
On Sunday morning, clocks in the United States will “spring forward” from 1:59 a.m. to 3 a.m., thanks to daylight saving time.
Daylight saving time was introduced in the U.S. in 1966 when Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which established a uniform DST but exempted states in which the legislature voted to stay on standard time year-round.
Most of the U.S. has used daylight saving time since the Uniform Time Act was adopted, but having the time jump backward and forward twice a year isn’t the most popular phenomenon across America.
Here are some fun facts about the history of daylight saving time and how it could change in the future:
When and why did daylight saving time begin?
There are several accounts, such as Canada first implementing the idea in 1908 or that Englishman William Willet proposed it in 1905 so people could enjoy more daylight during the summer.
But the first time that DST was widely used was in World War I, when Germany and its ally Austria turned the clocks forward by one hour on April 30, 1916, to minimize the use of artificial lighting and therefore save fuel for the war effort.
Other major countries in the war, such as the United Kingdom and France, also adopted it. Most countries reverted back to standard time after the war, and it didn’t return until World War II in the early 1940s.
Daylight saving time returned in the U.S. for good in 1966 to help conserve energy and allow people to enjoy more time outdoors. The U.S. Department of Transportation also claims that DST reduces crime and prevents traffic incidents.
Daylight saving time helping farmers is a myth
It’s been a long-held notion that action was taken in part to give farmers more daylight to farm. In fact, the agriculture industry lobbied against DST in 1919 following the conclusion of World War I, resulting in a repeal of the law.
The idea was that more summer sunlight in the evenings was beneficial to farmers. But farmers instead prefer to base their work around the season and schedule of the sun, not by the clock.
Moving the clock forward just meant an extra hour that farmers had to wait for the morning dew to dissipate off their crops, hired farmhands typically worked an hour less per day, and the twice-yearly movement of the clock messed up the schedule for many animals — cows, for instance, are accustomed to being milked at the same time every day.
Not every state observes daylight saving time
Although much of the U.S. still observes daylight time, Hawaii and most of Arizona keep their clocks on standard time year-round. U.S. territories Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and American Samoa also remain on standard time.
Hawaii opted out in 1967 while Arizona followed suit in 1968. Hawaii never observed daylight time because there is little variation in sunrise and sunset times in the Aloha State due to its location. Arizona opted out because the extreme heat the state sees resulted in energy usage actually increasing when observing daylight time.
But not all of Arizona followed suit. The Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona, a region of land belonging to the Native American tribe, spans three states: Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. Because of this, the Navajo region was permitted to remain on daylight time so the whole region would remain on the same time zone.
Daylight saving time in the Northwest
Washington and Idaho still spring forward and fall back, but the two states are linked on the matter thanks to time zones.
The southern half of Idaho is in the Mountain time zone, while North Idaho is in Pacific time with Washington.
The Washington Legislature in 2019 proposed a pair of bills that would move Washington to standard time year-round. The bills never passed, and further measures were introduced in the 2021 legislative session. Those also didn’t pass.
The Idaho Legislature passed a bill in 2020 that stated if Washington does ditch daylight time, then North Idaho would follow suit and get rid of it to stay in sync with its Pacific time zone neighbor. A 2020 bill to end daylight time throughout the state of Idaho stalled in the House of Representatives.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 1:50 PM.
