AUSTIN (KXAN) — As we work our way through October, you may be wondering when we “fall back” and get that extra hour of sleep.
Nov. 6 is the magical date when daylight saving time ends, so this past Sunday marked four weeks away and counting down. The yearly occurrence acts as a time shift when we set our clocks one hour earlier as we head into standard time.
Daylight saving time — when we set clocks one hour later, or “spring forward” — began at 2 a.m. local time March 13 for most of the country.
As it is, we’re losing almost two minutes of daylight per day.
Key dates: Sunrise and sunsets (based on Austin, Texas)
- Oct. 14: Last sunset of 7 p.m. or later for 2022
- Nov. 5: Last day of daylight saving time
- Sunrise: 7:48 a.m., sunset: 6:40 p.m.
- Nov. 6: First day of standard time
- Sunrise: 6:49 a.m., sunset: 5:39 p.m.
- Nov. 19: Last day with sunrise before 7 a.m. for 2022
- Nov. 25 through Dec. 10: Earliest sunset of the year (5:30 p.m.)
- Dec. 21: First day of winter, shortest day length of the year (10 hours, 11 min, 38 seconds)
- Jan. 4-15: Latest sunrise of the year (7:28 a.m.)
What to do when standard time begins?
There are some checklist items you should plan to do the weekend of the time change.
- Change clocks back one hour if they don’t adjust to standard time automatically.
- Don’t forget the microwave clock, oven clock, sprinkler clock, and car clock.
- Put new batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detector.
No time change is observed in Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas.
A poll conducted last October shows that most Americans want to avoid switching between daylight saving and standard time, though there is no consensus behind which should be used all year.
Will daylight saving time become permanent?
Earlier in the year, the Senate showed a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation to make daylight saving time permanent – something that’s been tried in the U.S. before.
While the Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would set our last ‘spring forward’ in March 2024, the bill hit a brick wall in the House. At the time, officials pointed to other national matters like high inflation and gun massacres.
“I can’t say it’s a priority,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told The Hill in July. “We have so many other priorities, but it doesn’t mean because it’s not a priority that we’re not trying to work on it. We are.”
However, if passed by the House, a signature from President Biden would make it law.
Historical daylight saving time
In late 1973, then-President Richard Nixon signed an emergency daylight saving time bill into law to combat a national energy crisis in the United States. The move attempted to cut demand by extending daylight hours and reducing the demand for electricity.
Public opinion of the decision rose to 80% approval leading up to the bill’s passage but fell sharply in the months after when parents grew concerned over traffic accidents and the safety of their children, who were forced to go to school under darkness.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.