Daylight Savings 2012: Start Date, History And Fun Facts

Welcome spring weather with the start of Daylight Saving Time.

At 2 a.m. on, Sunday, March 11, 2012, most U.S. residents will set their clocks ahead one hour for the beginning of Daylight Saving Time.

However, not all states will observe the time change. Residents of Arizona, Hawaii and U.S. territories Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands will remain on their normal schedules.

About 75 countries and territories have at least one location that observes Daylight Saving Time, according to TimeandDate.com. Conversely, 164 don't observe the time change at all.

Daylight Saving Time gives way to longer days, but some won't be too delighted to lose an hour of sleep. In fact, some scientists suggest the 'spring-forward" time change disrupts sleep and could pose health risks, such as heart attacks.

Brief History:

Benjamin Franklin has been credited with the idea of Daylight Saving Time, but Britain and Germany began using the concept in World War I to conserve energy, the Washington Post observes. The U.S. used Daylight Saving Time for a brief time during the war, but it didn't become widely accepted in the States until after the second World War.

In 1966, the Uniform Time Act outlined that clocks should be set forward on the last Sunday in April and set back the last Sunday in October.

That law was amended in 1986 to start daylight saving time on the first Sunday in April, though the new system wasn't implemented until 1987. The end date was not changed, however, and remained the last Sunday in October until 2006

Today, Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The time change will precede the first day of spring and the vernal equinox, which is set to take place at 1:14 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 20.

Not a fan of Daylight Saving Time? Don't worry: You can resume your normal schedule on Nov. 4.

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Comments

[Earnie Needham]

06:02 PM on 10/29/2012

The bad part is that, they do it backwards... I do not need the sun to set at 10:30 at night in the summer.... It should be the reverse & set at 8:30 in the summer & an hour later in the winter, instead of getting dark before 5:00 in the evening. This concept was thought up too long ago, before modern lighting & other electrical devices were installed on farm equipment.

[repub4america]

03:02 AM on 03/11/2012

Most of your left wing liberals don't worry about daylight savings time since most of them stay in bed anyway while the rest of us wake up to go to work.

[SpookyValentine]

04:16 AM on 03/11/2012

Do you weirdos really believe this crappy would be myth you always spout?

Right, Los Angeles and New York, the bluest cities in the land, and everyone in them just sleeps in every day.

Don't worry, here in Hollywood we're creating the GNP, so your rural backwater can get the help it needs.

[jimdavis11]

04:43 AM on 03/11/2012

Wow, I bet you were up all nite thinking up that one!

[Granny4164ever]

11:58 PM on 03/10/2012

I always thought DST was done for the school children. That way they don't have to get up in the dark and get home with plenty of time to play and exercise.

[flyingfortresb17]

11:40 PM on 03/10/2012

I tell you we do not need, repeat Do Not Need, daylight savings time. If people want an extra hour in the afternoon to play around then they should go to work an hour earlier. This cost every large city and county money in over time for the police, fire and medical responders. They get paid for working an hour shorter in the Spring and when it comes around to turn the clocks back in the fall these same officers, firemen and EMTs get paid one hour overtime for working 9 hours in a "8" hour time frame.

[SpookyValentine]

04:18 AM on 03/11/2012

You're just being ludicrous, right? RIGHT?

[flyingfortresb17]

02:46 PM on 03/11/2012

NO that is what happens with the emergency responders in our area. They get paid for 8 hours when the work 7 in the spring and work 9 hours in the fall and get paid the overtime. So if your are one of the few who end up working both changes you are a head financially and the city and county are out of the money. Tax payer money!

[Dodger300]

10:45 PM on 03/10/2012

I love DST! An extra hour of natural sunlight to do things after I get off work. I wish it was DST all year long.

If you don't appreciate DST, it is because you are an indoor person. So why does it bother you when you just sit on your couch all night? Bunch of grumblers.

I'll be sure to stay off your lawn, grandpa...

[victorzeller]

10:35 PM on 03/10/2012

DST is a good idea. I enjoy the daylight when I get home from work as it gives me the opportunity to do things around the house . For those of you that don't understand that, maybe you should get off the couch and do something more with your lives.

[mgrtec1]

10:17 PM on 03/10/2012

All you do is turn the lights on earlier and off earlier. The daylight hours don't change no matter what the clock says.

[dopsovicd]

10:12 PM on 03/10/2012

makes for a short weekend

[djandme]

10:01 PM on 03/10/2012

DST USED TO BE THE FIRST SUNDAY AM BEFORE SPRING BEGAINS AND THEY CHANGED THAT. NOW THAT IS ONLY 2 WEEKS DIFFERENTS. I WISH THEY WOULD LEAVE IT BE. JUST LIKE IT IS RIGHT NOW. I HAVE THE CLOCKS THAT CHANGE THEMSELVES ON THE OLD TIME.

[djandme]

09:55 PM on 03/10/2012

I THINK I CAN CHANGE MY CLOCKS WHEN I'M READY. LIKE THIS MORNING WHEN I GOT UP , I MOVED THEM UP ONE HOUR !!!!.

[clarissa49]

09:50 PM on 03/10/2012

I have never had a problem with DST. I can think of many other things our government needs to stop doing----definitely more important than DST.

[paddywhack393]

09:00 PM on 03/10/2012

SORRY...WOULD,T HAVE THIS PROBLEM

[paddywhack393]

08:59 PM on 03/10/2012

would have this article if you left the damn time alone don't care of trains and planes and cows or germans..leave it alone

[SKYPILOT54]

08:42 PM on 03/10/2012

Oddly enough, this tradition makes a couple of businesses boom,, BBQ pits and charcoal. FACT

[Sunny11]

08:29 PM on 03/10/2012

Living in Az. it is nice not having to adjust my internal clock.