CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tis' the time of the year that everyone “Falls Back” and returns to standard time.
So let’s learn more about daylight saving time.
Nov. 6 at 2 a.m. officially ends 238 days under Daylight Saving Time. That means it lasts for 34 weeks or over 65% (65.4%) of the year.
This means when a time is listed for the east coast we change the time from EDT meaning Eastern Daylight Time to an EST or Eastern Standard Time.
Daylight saving time history and Timeline:
The idea of changing clocks was first mentioned by Ben Franklin, but the modern idea was credited to a man named George Hudson in 1895.
- DST was first used here in the United States in World War I in 1918 for 7 months to conserve electricity. That's its main purpose, to conserve energy.
- It came back again in 1942 for more than half of WWII. It lasted all year long and was called WAR TIME.
- Later in 1966 The Uniform Time Act set an official beginning and end time to Daylight Saving Time.
- In 1973, the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act extends DST to 8 months and saved millions of barrels of oil
- In 1986, The beginning of daylight saving time was moved to the beginning of April as a part of the Extended Daylight Savings Act
- 2007, the Energy Act voted two years prior which moved DST to its current time starting in early March and moved the end to after Halloween into early to mid-November.
FACT: Hawaii and Arizona (most of the state excluding the Navajo Region) are the only two states that do not change their clocks.
Is Daylight Saving Coming to an End?
The answer... Not yet.
Back in March of 2022, the Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent year round. BUT until congress passes it, it is just talk for now.
Sunrise and Sunset Changes:
Sunrise, sunset and day length changes going forward.
Obviously, we gain an hour by turning our clocks back from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. But physiologically this messes with our brains. It desynchronizes our daily clock and can lead to sleep deprivation, disorientation and even difficulties learning.
Our sunrise time goes to 6:49 a.m. and our new sunset time is 5:24 p.m. under 10 hours and 34 minutes of daylight.
A month later we lose 40 minutes of daylight
The 5:10 p.m. sunset time is the earliest sunset in Charlotte. From this date, the sunset time slowly gets later and our sunrise time doesn't start getting earlier until mid-January.
Welcome back to standard time everyone.
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