November 5, 2021
It’s that time of year again!
Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday morning at 2 a.m., so New Canaan residents need to remember to turn their clocks back an hour before they go to bed on Saturday night or when they wake up on Sunday morning. The change back to Standard Time provides an extra hour of daylight during the shorter winter days.
For those who might be wondering, the idea of manipulating clocks was first suggested by Benjamin Franklin in 1784. But it wasn’t until 1916 that the practice of Daylight Saving Time became commonplace -- and it was Germany who first advanced clocks.
During World War I, the Germans advanced time as a fuel conservation measure so it could produce more weaponry. The United States and Britain quickly followed suit. At the conclusion of the war, all three countries reverted back to Standard Time, only to reinstate Daylight Saving Time during World War II.
Since the end of World War II, there have been many iterations of Daylight Saving Time. In 1966, Congress enacted the Uniform Time Act that established predetermined Spring Forward and Fall Back dates. The law was not mandatory which led Hawaii, most of Arizona, and the U.S. territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands to decide against changing their clocks.
The most recent change to Daylight Saving occurred in 2005 when the Energy Policy Act moved the start date of Daylight Saving to the second Sunday in March and the end date to the first Sunday in November.
Enjoy your extra hour of sleep Saturday night!
