Daylight Savings Time<\/p>\n
Many people outside the US find this hard to believe, but twice every year, most Americans–some 300 million people–all change their clocks! In November, we move our clocks BACK one hour. In March, we move our clocks FORWARD one hour. Since November is in the fall and March is in the spring, we remember this with the saying, “Spring Forward, Fall Back.” Nowadays our “smart phones” update the time automatically, but for regular clocks in your home or car, you have to manually change them. The actual time change happens at 2:00 am Sunday morning. The change happens then because most people are asleep at 2:00 am, and Sunday is not a work day so if people forget to make the change (and many people always forget!), then at least they will not be an hour early or late to work on Monday morning. Also, since the actual time change is at 2:00 am Sunday, most people change their clocks on Saturday night, right before they go to bed. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why do we do this?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Because most of the US is far north of the equator, hours of daylight in the winter are short but in the summer they are long. So, this time change basically “moves” an hour of daylight from the early mornings into the evenings, when more people can use and enjoy the extra sunlight. For example, in Virginia USA in early March, the sun sets around 6:20 pm. However, after the time change–presto!–the sun now sets at 7:20!<\/strong><\/span> Granted, the mornings suddenly become darker after the March time change, but the evenings get more light, so that makes more time for outdoor activities like sports, taking walks, cook-outs, etc. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unfortunately, by moving the clocks forward one hour in March, many people lose an hour of sleep. Each year, for the first few days after the spring time change, the number of heart attacks and car accidents goes up! It seems, when a whole country loses an hour of sleep, bad things happen! However, after a few days, most people get used to the new time. In November, the opposite happens. We move our clocks BACK one hour, so we get back the hour of sleep we lost in March! After the November time change, the mornings have more sun but it gets darker in the evenings earlier.<\/p>\n *************<\/p>\n Below is a story about how we changed our clocks on the first Sunday of March: <\/p>\n