When does 2024 time change happen? When clocks fall back an ...

4 Oct 2024

Courier Journal

When does 2024 time change happen When clocks fall back an

When does Daylight Saving Time fall back? Is DST is permanently ending soon? What to know about the time change and why you'll get an extra hour of sleep.

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Daylight saving time: when and why we still 'fall back' for DST

The United States began daylight saving time in 1918, copying efforts by Germany and Britain to save energy during WWI.

Scott L. Hall, USA TODAY

Daylight Saving Time is coming to a close with the arrival of fall, and the time to turn clocks back is only a month away.

Here's when daylight saving time ends, why clocks fall back, the Sunshine Protection Act and more.

When does fall 2024 start?: Schools are back in session. The cicadas are singing. So when does fall begin?

Here's what you need to know:

When does 2024 daylight savings time change fall back in the U.S.?

States participating in daylight saving time turn their clocks back when it officially ends on the first Sunday of November every year.

Daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday of March, when we turn our clocks forward an hour.

When do the clocks fall back for 2024 time change?

Our clocks will fall back at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024.

Does Kentucky observe 2024 daylight savings time?

Yes; Kentucky observes daylight saving time.

Hawaii and parts of Arizona do not participate in daylight saving time. The territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also do not participate.

Why does time change at 2 a.m. for daylight savings time?

Author Michael Downing cited his book, "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time," in an interview with Time Magazine, explaining Amtrak and the railroads were the main reason clocks change at 2 a.m. for DST.

When DST was being established, There were no trains leaving the station at 2 a.m. on Sundays in New York City when Daylight Saving Time was being born.

According to Downing, "Sunday morning at 2 a.m. was when they would interrupt the least amount of train travel around the country.”

Will we gain or lose an hour when DST ends?

When daylight saving time ends, we will set our clocks back an hour, meaning we will gain an hour of sleep. We lose an hour when daylight saving time begins in the spring when we move our clocks forward.

To help remember which is which, some say "When it comes to daylight saving time, we spring forward and then we fall back."

Which U.S. states don't change clocks for daylight savings time?

As of July 25, 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation noted that only Hawaii and parts of Arizona do not participate in daylight saving time. The Navajo Nation is the lone exception in Arizona.

The territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also do not participate.

According to the website, states may exempt themselves from observing daylight saving time by state law in accordance with the Uniform Time Act, as amended.

Why is daylight savings a thing?

The goal of daylight saving time is to ensure more daylight hours in a day for a number of reasons, but primarily to save energy. There have also been arguments that having more daylight hours benefits public safety and health.

Daylight saving time was first introduced in the U.S. in 1918 during World War I and it was known as "war time." It was then abandoned after the war as there was no financial need to continue it at the time.

Daylight saving time as we know it today began in the U.S. with the Uniform Time Act of 1966, only it started on the last Sunday of April and ended on the last Sunday of October.

In 2005 it was shifted to begin on the second Sunday of March and first Sunday of November, like it is today. A Department of Energy study found the extra four weeks of daylight saving time saved around 0.5% in total electricity daily in the U.S., equaling energy savings of 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours annually.

DST 2024: Daylight saving time is here. But why does it exist in the first place?

What is the Sunshine Protection Act?

The Sunshine Protection Act of 2021, which was created to make daylight saving time the new, permanent standard time, was unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate in 2022 but it was not passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

There is currently no news on when it will be readdressed and then signed into law.