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Spring Forward in 2021: Daylight Saving Time Begins at 2 a.m. Sunday Morning

Daffodils are starting to pop up all over. These are on the Hwy. 105 roadside in Foscoe, usually the first to bloom with it’s on a slope with all day sunlight.

By Nathan Ham

Spring is just around the corner on March 20, and to get everybody ready for some warmer weather ahead, it’s time to adjust those clocks forward one hour before you go to bed this Saturday night. The time will officially jump ahead an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins each year on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. Hawaii and most of the state of Arizona except for the northeast corner of the state stay on standard time throughout the year and do not change their clocks forward and backward like every other state. Other United States territories do not participate in Daylight Saving Time, including Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands.

Daylight Saving Time has been around for over 100 years in the United States. The first time it was observed was in 1918. The US Department of Transportation governs the use of DST. Even though Daylight Saving Time has been around for such a long period of time, the amount of time spent each year observing DST has varied. During parts of the 1970s, DST would be in affect in the United States for as few as eight months to as many as 10 months. From 1987 to 2006, Daylight Saving Time was observed for seven months each year. Now, DST is in effect for just under eight months. The current schedule was introduced in 2007 and follows the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

On Sunday, sunrise will be at 7:38 a.m. and sunset will be at 7:33 p.m., a total of 11 hours, 54 minutes and 59 seconds of daylight.

Turning your clocks up an hour is also a good reminder to change the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Fire departments recommend that you do that at the beginning and end of Daylight Saving Time.