Daylight savings is nearly over, marking the beginning of earlier sunsets, but less sunlight and shorter days.
Daylight savings time is an annual event that happens in the United States from March 13 at 2 a.m. to November 6 at 2 a.m. Clocks in states that observe this time change will remain in the same position for another, making the day 25 hours on the first Sunday of November.
Clocks “spring forward” at the start of daylight savings, making the day 23 hours and sunsets later in the day.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, daylight savings was introduced to the U.S. by Germany during World War I to conserve fuel and power by extending daylight hours. The U.S. abolished daylight-saving time after the war, but some states still observed it.
The U.S. Department of Transportation was created in 1966 to monitor transportation safety and regulate daylight savings time, as it created confusion between the time zones along rail lines.
Most of the United States observes daylight savings except for Hawaii and Arizona, both of which observe permanent standard time.
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 on March 15, which would extend daylight saving time from the usual March to November period to the entire year. Clocks will no longer change twice a year if it becomes law.
The proposed legislation will take effect on Nov. 5, 2023, if it becomes law.
