Spring forward, Fall back

Don’t forget, Daylight Saving Time officially begins this year on Sunday, March 9th at 2:00 AM but for most of us it means we set the clocks forward when we go to bed on Saturday night. This year DST will run through November 2nd.

Some interesting notes about Daylight Saving Time:

We don’t actually save any daylight. Turning the clock forward an hour, effectively moves an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time although it is the more common term and is found in dictionaries.

Can bars serve alcohol for an extra hour in November? The official answer is that bars that the bars do not stop serving liquor at 2:00 a.m., but actually at 1:59 a.m. So, they have already stopped serving when the time changes from Daylight Saving Time into Standard Time. In practice, however, many establishments stay open an extra hour in the fall.

In the U.S., 2:00 a.m. was originally chosen as the changeover time because it was practical and minimized disruption. Most people were at home and this was the time when the fewest trains were running.

For the U.S. and its territories, Daylight Saving Time is NOT observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and Arizona. The Navajo Nation participates in the Daylight Saving Time policy, even in Arizona, due to its large size and location in three states.

Safety Reminder: Many fire departments encourage people to change the batteries in their smoke detectors when they change their clocks because Daylight Saving Time provides a convenient reminder. More than 90 percent of homes in the United States have smoke detectors, but one-third is estimated to have dead or missing batteries.