Now that 2026 is officially underway, we’re only a few short weeks away from gaining more of that precious daylight. Although it may be a few weeks away, it’s time to prepare for Daylight Saving Time.
This year’s spring DST will take place at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 8. At that time, clocks will “spring forward” an hour giving most people in the U.S. an extra hour of sunlight in the evening.
DST takes place each year on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
While DST was observed in some areas, the tradition became official in the U.S. in 1966 when the Uniform Time Act of 1966 was passed. The law was amended by The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which extended daylight saving time from March to November, after previously running from April to October.
Each March, Americans are reminded to move their clocks ahead one hour as they “spring forward.” Then in November, the clocks “fall back” an hour, leading to an extra hour of sleep that night. While most electronics will automatically adjust the time, Americans are reminded to change the time of their stove, microwave, car radio, in-home radio and clocks that hang on a wall.
Although the practice has been in place for nearly 60 years, there have been several efforts in recent years to end the event. While none of these efforts have succeeded in Congress, a bill was introduced last year that once again called for the end of Daylight Saving Time.
The bill would have set a permanent standard time and allowed for states with areas exempt from daylight saving time to choose the standard time for those areas. However, the bill stalled in the Senate and will need to be reintroduced in 2026 if it were to become law.
