When to change the clock for Daylight saving time in 2024? Starting date and other details explored

Sunday, March 10 will see most states in the US shifting from standard time to daylight saving time. Just like how most of the country shifted to standard time at 2 a.m. on November 5 of last year, now people are all set to shift to daylight saving time at 2 a.m. on March 10.

The upcoming phenomenon will ensure that United States citizens have later sunsets and longer days. There are only two states in the whole country that don't switch their clocks twice a year to adhere to daylight saving and that is Hawaii and most of Arizona.

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Daylight Saving Time was initially called 'war time'

Most citizens in the United States are waiting for the clock to strike 2. a.m. on March 10, the second Sunday of the month. As DST arrives, people will 'spring' their clocks ahead by one hour when it reaches the necessary time. One hour in March will be lost to the endless void of unlimited time.

According to USA Today, this is done to accommodate more daylight during the summer evenings. Almost all states in the country will experience longer days and later sunsets. DST will come to an end in November when the country will 'fall back' into standard time.

The only states that don't implement DST are Hawaii and Arizona, except for northeastern Arizona's Navajo Nation. Most of the American territories also don't observe DST. According to The Hill, these territories include the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands.

According to an article by the Department of Defense, daylight saving time was initially known as 'War Time'. It was established on March 19, 1918, when the Standard Time Act became law. This law, which also split the country into 5 time zones, helped save energy costs during World War 1 by allowing extra hours of daylight to be added into a standard day.

However, the law only lasted a year before being repealed after the war ended. However, during the next World War in February 1942, a similar national daylight saving time was implemented to promote national security and defense, and conserve food. Just like last time, the law was repealed once the war ended in 1945.

Two decades later, the Uniform Time Act was passed in 1966 setting up a national time that replaced various local times and established a daylight saving time. Over the years, when daylight saving occurs has changed. The current dates, which declare daylight saving to begin on the second Sunday of March and end on the first Sunday in November were introduced by President George W. Bush in 2005.

The Department of Defense also mentioned that despite daylight saving time being a federal law, states have the right to choose not to follow it by passing a state law. According to the Economic Times, the state of Oregon tried abolishing daylight saving time for the state. However, the bill failed to advance on Tuesday, March 5.

Oregon tried to shift back into standard time for most of the state as the bill argued that except for Malheur County, the rest of the state fell into the Pacific Time Zone and had to be freed of the "annual one-hour change" to daylight saving from standard time. The outlet reported that such bills have recently surfaced in multiple states including California, Idaho, and Washington.