Daylight Saving Time 2024: When do we change our clocks?

Every year Americans go through the ritual of changing the hour on their clock to take better advantage of the daylight available. The idea is to save energy first and foremost but it also is supposed to improve safety on the roads and railways as well as reducing crime.

The official time change will take place promptly at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, 3 November. That will be when Americans will have to turn their clocks back one hour.

It is worth mentioning that not all United States territories make this change. Alaska, Hawaii and most of Arizona are exempt due to their time zones, as well as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and American Samoa.

Daylight Saving Time will be back until Sunday, 9 March, 2025, marking the beginning of spring.

The reason why we change the clocks?

While the United States isn’t the only nation that follows the twice annual practice, and some would like to put an end to the biannual time change, it is among the outliers. That, however, has to do with the fact that most of the nation is in higher latitudes which means that the Earth’s tilt affects the amount of sunlight during each season.

The phenomenon of the solstices and equinoxes mark the beginning of the seasons with the longest and shortest days of the year.

The solstices correspond to winter and summer, while the equinoxes to spring and autumn. In the northern hemisphere, where the US is, the winter solstice occurs in December, while the summer solstice occurs in June. As for the equinoxes, The spring one takes place in March and the autumn one in September.

During spring, the northern hemisphere tilts more towards the Sun, which means there are more daylight hours. With the winter solstice, The opposite effect occurs, that is, the daylight hours decrease. Therefore, the time change is made twice a year.