Heads Up! Daylight Savings Starts March 11

Daylight Savings, Spring Forward or Spring Up, March Forward, Summer Time... whatever you call it, it's coming soon. Sunday, March 11, at 2:00 am, is when we move our clocks forward one hour.

And for most of us, it's a happy fact of life in the otherwise bleary month of March.  Because who doesn't love a little more light at the end of every day?

When Did DST Start?

On July 1, 1908, the residents of Port Arthur, Ontario turned their clocks forward by 1 hour.  This was the first official use of DST.

However, the idea did not catch until 1916 when Germany started using DST.  Clocks in Germany and Austria were turned ahead by 1 hour on April 30, 1916, during World War I. The Germans wanted minimize the use of artificial lighting to save fuel for the war effort.  Shorty afterward, the UK, France and other countries followed suit.

Daylight Saving Time is now used in over 70 countries worldwide and affects over 1 billion people every year. The beginning and end dates vary from one country to another.

See a list of DST changes throughout the world.

DST in the USA

In the United States, most, but not all, of the country will move clocks forward. Oddly, the state of Arizona does not use DST, except for Native American reservations.

 

So, unless you're somewhere that doesn't participate in DST, get ready to lose an hour of sleep and gain an hour of light this weekend.