By Nathan Ham
Daylight Saving Time for 2021 will officially end at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, which many people consider as the unofficial beginning to the winter season.
Days will continue getting shorter and shorter until the Winter Solstice on December 22. As the amount of daylight decreases, the amount of time spent driving in the dark increases, particularly with evening commutes. The North Carolina Department of Transportation wants to remind people to make sure their vehicle’s lights, including emergency flashers, are working properly. Also, be sure to switch your headlights from high to low beam when vehicles approach, and be alert and watch for bicyclists, pedestrians and wildlife that might be crossing the road.
Each year, discussions take place in numerous states about ending Daylight Saving Time. Currently, 48 of the 50 states in the United States still participate in springing an hour forward and falling one hour back each year at the start and end of DST. Hawaii and Arizona are the two states that longer participate in Daylight Saving Time. The United States territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not participate.
Daylight Saving Time was officially adopted in the United States on March 31, 1918, though it wasn’t until the Uniform Time Act signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 that standardized the “spring forward and fall back” time change rules to April and October of each year. That changed to March and November of each year in 2007 following a law signed by President George W. Bush.
On Sunday, the sun will rise at 6:55 a.m. and will set at 5:24 p.m. The earliest sunset for the rest of the year will be on December 9 when the sun will set at 5:11 p.m. December 21 will be the shortest day of the year with 9 hours, 41 minutes and 38 seconds of daylight.