Spring Forward
Spring forward! At 2 a.m. on March 14, set your clocks ahead 1 hour—well, your clocks that aren’t on cell phones, smart phones, smart clocks and computers—if anyone has anything like that anymore!
Daylight Savings Time isn’t just about changing the time on clocks, it brings many advantages for us, too.
We are so used to coming home to a dark home that during the first few days of daylight savings, we are pleasantly surprised when we come home to a home full of sunshine—a reminder that spring is near.
Since warmer weather is around the corner, we can turn our thermostats down and take advantage of the natural light and heat, which means less expensive electric bills.
With longer daylight hours, we have a better chance to make it to the beach or mountains before the sun goes down to see spectacular and breathtaking sunsets.
Studies have shown that there are fewer traffic accidents after Daylight Savings Time, which means smoother and quicker commutes with less backups on the interstate.
Daylight Savings Time was created for reasons other than to warm our houses, watch beautiful sunsets and reducing traffic accidents. There are many insights as to how and why daylight savings started—some of the insights include; Congress wanting more outdoor playtime for children, Benjamin Franklin wanted shopkeepers to save more money on candles and during World War 1-Germany wanted to conserve fuel.
Regardless of the reason, we set our clocks ahead one hour at 2 a.m. every second Sunday in March and set our clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. every first Sunday in November—Except for most of Arizona. Most of Arizona stays on Standard Time because the last thing they want is extra daylight. Because of the hot climate, adding an extra hour of daylight would cause more of an energy crunch with air conditioning working longer and harder.
So, don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead one hour, if they don’t automatically do it, at 2 a.m. on Sunday and bask in the extra hour of daylight until November.
Chelsea Hickey
