Its that time of year again, where we change the clocks ahead one hour and look forward to spring, summer, and longer daylight. This Sunday, March 14th at 2 am is when the official Daylight Savings Time begins and lasts until November 7th.
Daylight Savings Time requires most of the country to turn their clocks ahead one hour. Former Governor Rick Scott and Florida Lawmakers signed a bill in 2018 called the Sunshine Protection Act that would make the permanent change across the country, but the bill has not taken effect yet. The bill is still waiting on congressional approval.
Here are some interesting facts about Daylight Savings Time that you might have missed.
Daylight Savings Time in the United States is not observed by every state. Arizona and Hawaii are the two states in the US that does not observe Daylight Savings Time. The territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marina Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands do not observe Daylight Savings Time. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Florida are among a few states trying to observe year-round standard time.
More than a half a century before any country adapted Daylight Savings Time; Benjamin Franklin proposed a similar concept in 1784. Franklin pitched the idea as a money saver but the first official credit for Daylight Savings Time is credited to a Bug Collector in New Zealand in 1895. His idea was banned at the time but two decades later, the concept was adapted and is still observed by most of the world.
It Saves Electricity: depending on where you live in the United States, when Daylight Savings Times kicks in it means an extra hour of daylight in the afternoon.
World War I pushed Daylight Savings Time into Law. In 1916, Germany was the first country to officially adapt the concept in effort to conserve coal during World War I. Britain and most of Europe followed Germany’s plan, but it was not until 1918 when the United States adopted the time change.
Daylight Savings Time does not begin until 2 am. The time change is delayed in hopes that people are not awake to even notice it.
