Daylight Saving Time in the United States

Though the concept of Daylight Saving Time is not new to the United States, people invariably tend to get confused about the dates on which the time clocks have to be changed. Continue reading for DST details from 2011-2030…

The entire concept of Daylight Saving Time is based on the fact that longer afternoons are more productive – and thus more helpful for the society, as compared to longer mornings. In order to facilitate this, the clocks are reversed by an hour in such a manner that the afternoon becomes an hour longer than the morning. The brainchild of George Vernon Hudson – an entomologist and astronomer from New Zealand – DST is widely followed in the Northern hemisphere today. (Some sources suggest that the first citation of this concept was put forth by Benjamin Franklin in 1784.) The concept is relatively more popular in North America and Europe, as compared to the other continents of the world, though the practice differs significantly in both the continents.

Daylight Saving Time in the US

In the United States, this concept was put into practice with the Standard Time Act of 19th March, 1918. Initially, the first Sunday of April was considered to be the beginning of Daylight Saving Time (and the clocks were set ahead of time by an hour), while the first Sunday of October was considered to be its end (and the clocks were reverted by an hour) as per the Uniform Time Act of 1966. Since 2007 though, the second Sunday of March is considered to be the beginning of DST in the United States, while the first Sunday of November marks its end (as stipulated in the Energy Policy Act of 2005).

The Uniform Time Act of 1966, stated that it is not mandatory for any state to follow this concept – and that stipulation continues even today. But if any state or territory of the US chooses to follow the same, it has to be done in accordance to the Daylight Saving Time change setting rules stipulated by the Federal administration. In accordance to this law, the US states of Arizona and Hawaii and territories like Puerto Rico, do not follow this time change, but resort to Standard Time.

If you are not in the United States, you should refer to DST change in other regions of the world.

DST 2011-2030 – United States of America

Other than the United States, even Canada, Greenland and some areas of Mexico (those along the US-Mexican border in particular), will change their clocks by an hour on the aforementioned dates. (The fact that some areas of Mexico opt for DST change followed by the United States may come as a surprise for some people, but one should remember that these are the regions which benefit the most from trade and commerce between the two countries.) In Europe, on the other hand, the concept of Daylight Saving Time is referred to as Summer Time – and the clocks are changed on the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October respectively.