U.S. turns back clock at 2 a.m. Sunday as daylight savings time ends
Nov. 1 (UPI) — As daylight saving time ends overnight Saturday, a large majority of Americans will turn their clocks back and gain an extra hour of sleep early Sunday morning.
Many clocks will self-adjust at the appropriate time, such as the clocks on computers and cell phones, but others still must be changed manually.
The official time to turn the clocks back is 2 a.m. in states that participate in daylight saving time, which many view as an opportunity to get in an extra hour of celebration in states and locales that require bars to close at 2 a.m. or later.
Most of Canada and northern Mexico also will change their clocks as daylight saving time ends for them.
The purpose is to add an hour of daylight during the morning hours during the winter months and an extra hour of daylight during the evening hours during the summer months, according to USA Today.
Most of Arizona and all of Hawaii do not follow daylight saving time, though, which means clocks will remain the same as the rest of the nation joins them on standard time.
Arizona, with the exception of the Navajo Nation, forgoes daylight saving time due to the summers there being so hot.
Hawaii does not participate in daylight saving time due to its close proximity to the Equator and relatively consistent daylight hours throughout the year.
The U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands likewise do not participate in daylight savings time due to their relatively stable hours of sunlight.
Daylight saving time started this year on March 9, and Sunday marks its earliest end since the Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed the end date from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November, starting in 2007.
The act also changed its start date to the second Sunday in March, which extended daylight saving time by about four weeks per year.
Daylight saving time returns at 2 a.m. on March 8, 2026.
Germany was the first nation to adjust its clocks in 1916 during World War I, with the goal of reducing its energy usage.
Other nations, including the United States, soon followed.
Daylight saving time became a requirement in the United States upon the adoption of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, but states have the ability to opt out.
No state, however, has the option of permanently setting their clocks on daylight saving time.
Acceptance of the annual fall and spring time changes is not universal.
A CBS/YouGov poll in 2022 showed 80% of respondents favored keeping daylight saving time in effect all year, and the Senate that year passed the Sunshine Protection Act.
The measure died in the House of Representatives, however, as it chose not to bring it up for a vote.
Nineteen states, though, are prepared to eliminate the time change if Congress passes enabling legislation to do so.
A measure that would do so has been introduced in the Senate, but it has not been put up for a vote.
