Three Things You Might Not Know About Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time begins again Sunday, March 10, 2024. It ends on Sunday, November 3. Set your clocks! The change will take place at 2 a.m. on those spring and fall mornings.

1) Speaking of, why 2 a.m.? The thought behind the early-morning swap is pretty simple: Most people are expected to already be at home and in bed, and that time won’t bother many bars or restaurants. It also likely doesn’t affect those who have early shifts at work.

2) No, it wasn’t started to help farmers: Farmers had a lobby that campaigned aggressively against Daylight Saving Time. That’s because it gave them one less hour in the sunlight to send their crops to market. To this day, many farmers don’t like it, especially because cows like to be milked on a schedule and moving the clocks disrupts that. Farmers in the U.S. lobbied successfully to stop Daylight Saving Time after World War I, and it wouldn’t go back into effect until the next world war.

3) Not everyone observes it. Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation), Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands don’t recognize Daylight Saving Time. Parts of Indiana didn’t as well until it was adopted statewide in 2006. And around the world, only 70 countries actually observe it.

Source: CountryLiving.com