Clocks move forward one hour on Sunday, March 11, 2018, making everybody "lose" one hour of sleep. But what time do the clocks "spring" forward for Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the Eastern standard time, Central standard time, Mountain standard time, and Pacific standard time?
Daylight saving time, sometimes mispronounced as "daylight savings time," has a tumultuous history in the U.S. and is often debated. In theory, daylight saving time is the practice of moving clocks forward during summer months so that evening daylight remains longer while normal sunrise times are sacrificed.
Daylight saving time first started in the U.S. during World War I with the Standard Time Act of 1918, known as "War Time." The law lived in various limbos until World War II, when Congress enacted the War Time Act of 1942. War Time was intended to lower domestic energy consumption so more of it could be used for military purposes. After World War II ended, like after World War I, some states continued to observe daylight saving and some didn't.
It wasn't until 1966 that the federal government decided that establishing a standard of time zones and daylight saving was again taken up by the federal government, and this time for good. On April 13, 1966, Uniform Time Act was signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson, which mandated DST begin nationwide on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, effective in 1967. The dates were later changed to begin it on the second Sunday of March, which in 2018 is March 11.
However, not everyone is a fan of DST. According to End Daylight Saving Time, a group dedicated to killing the practice in the U.S., "While some people claim that they would miss the late evening light, a presumably similar number of people love the morning light. And projects, postponed during the sun filled summer, will be tackled with new vigor when the sun sets an hour earlier each day."
Find out when to move your clocks here:
Whether you are in Eastern standard time, Central standard time, Mountain standard time, and Pacific standard, on Sunday, March 11, 2018, clocks are turned forward one hour at 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.
However, not every part of the U.S. observes DST. If you are in Arizona (except for the tribal lands of the Navajo, who do observe DST) or Hawaii, DST does not apply to you. Other island territories of the U.S. like American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands, also do not observe DST.