Fall is here, and it's almost time to change any of your clocks that don't automatically adjust. Two days after Halloween, most of the US will be moving the clocks backward one hour. Daylight saving time ends on Nov. 2, with the time officially changing at 2 a.m.
The time shift is notorious for disrupting sleep patterns and schedules. Some politicians are pushing to abolish time changes and remain in daylight saving time, or DST, forever. If you, too, dislike how early it's about to get dark each day, just remember that brighter evenings will be back after four months.
When does daylight saving time end?
Daylight saving time in the US ends at 2 a.m. local time Sunday, Nov. 2. It's coming back at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, March 8. The end of DST has the motto "fall back," whereas in March, we'll "spring forward."
The US isn't alone in observing daylight saving time. Check out this list of other countries that use DST, along with their start and end dates.
Daylight saving time vs. standard time
Enlarge Image The official US time website shows where time zone boundaries are located. National Institute of Standards and Technology
The exact start dates for daylight saving time and standard time float a little. DST kicks off on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November with the return of standard time.
We spend about eight months of the year in DST. We can thank the Uniform Time Act of 1966 for bringing some order to what had been a complicated history of time changes in the US.
"Motivated by transportation improvements, this act mandated standard time within the existing time zones and established a permanent system of uniform DST, including the dates and times for twice-yearly transitions," the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in a history of time zones.
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