When do the clocks go back? (2024)

FAQs

When do the clocks go back? ›

Today, most Americans spring forward (turn clocks ahead and lose an hour) on the second Sunday in March (at 2:00 A.M.) and fall back (turn clocks back and gain an hour) on the first Sunday in November (at 2:00 A.M.). See how your sunrise and sunset times will change with our Sunrise/Set Calculator.

Hawaii and most of Arizona, as well as all U.S. territories, have made that change, while lawmakers in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia have recently introduced bills to do the same.

With no progress made on the 2023 measure, Americans will continue to "spring forward" and "fall back" in 2024. Here is where each state stands in the effort to move to daylight saving time all year long, though Congress would need to act before states that have enacted laws can make the change.

1, there are 38 days until daylight saving time which begins on March 10, 2024. The clocks will “spring forward” an hour at 2 a.m., and electronic devices will automatically be set to 3 a.m. while non-digital clocks will have to be manually changed. The days will grow longer until the summer solstice on June 20.

We lose an hour in March to "spring forward" by adding more daylight in the evenings. And we gain an hour in November and "fall back" by adding more daylight in the mornings. The first day of spring is Tuesday, March 19, nine days after the time change.

Daylight saving time is going to begin Sunday the same way the twice-a-year time change has started for the last 17 years, only to end in November 2024 — but that end won't be permanent.

The most notable downside of year-round daylight saving time would come in the winter, when many areas would not see the sun rise until long after most people are out of bed and off to work or school. For example, the sunrise in eastern Pennsylvania would be after 8 a.m. from late November until the middle of February.

In 2022, the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent, although several senators stated later that they would have objected if they had known that the bill could pass. No iteration of the bill has passed the House. An Act to make daylight saving time permanent, and for other purposes.

In the early 1970s, America was facing an energy crisis so the government tried an experiment. Congress passed a law to make Daylight Savings Time permanent year round, but just for two years. The thinking was more sunlight in the evening would reduce the nation's energy consumption.

That extra hour of natural light at night on the western side further robs people of an average of 19 minutes of sleep each night. Springing forward an hour mimics a move from the east to west edge of a time zone and exacerbates the deficits of those already there.

Will there be Daylight Savings Time in 2026? ›

Mar 8, 2026 - Daylight Saving Time Starts

Sunrise and sunset will be about 1 hour later on Mar 8, 2026 than the day before. There will be more light in the evening and less light in the morning.

George Hudson was the first to propose modern DST, in 1895. New Zealand entomologist George Hudson first proposed modern DST. His shift-work job gave him spare time to collect insects and led him to value after-hours daylight.

It took another war, World War II, for President Franklin D. Roosevelt to introduce a law establishing year-round DST. This “War Time” law lasted from February 9, 1942, to September 30, 1945. From 1945 to 1966, DST observance was quite inconsistent across the states.

Unless, of course, you live in one of two states that don't observe daylight saving time. Then this Sunday is just like every other Sunday. Hawaii and most of Arizona stay in one time zone year-round, meaning they don't switch their clocks in March and November like the rest of us.

The idea is to move an hour of sunlight from the early morning to the evening, so that people can make more use of daylight. Benjamin Franklin is often credited as the first to suggest it in the 18th century, after he realized he was wasting his Parisian mornings by staying in bed.

Daylight saving in 2024 starts Sunday March 10, 2024 at 2 a.m. Newly proposed state legislation aims to repeal Daylight saving time and put California permanently on Standard time: but not everyone is 'springing forward' in support of this idea. "This is like a hill I would die on," said San Diegan Sarah Giovannotto.

The Texas House Votes to Permanently Stay on Daylight Saving Time. In April 2023, In House Bill 1422, by a vote of 138-5, the Texas Legislature said goodbye to changing your clocks twice a year.

The state's House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill in December to extend daylight saving to the entire year in Ohio and urge the U.S. Congress to pass the “Sunshine Protection Act,” a bill to transition to perpetual daylight saving nationwide.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Because Arizona is so hot and sunny, the additional hour of daylight meant energy consumption would soar so as to keep living spaces cool for that extra hour.