Science Fact Finder | Time, Weights, and Measures - When Is Daylight Savings Time Observed In The United States?

When is Daylight Savings Time observed in the United States?

Daylight Savings Time (DST) is an adjustment to standard time that involves setting the time one hour later during the summer months. Its purpose is to provide more light in the evening hours and therefore save energy.

In 1967, the Uniform Time Act went into effect, requiring all states and possessions (colonies) of the United States to begin observing DST at 2 a.m. every year on the last Sunday of April. The clock would advance one hour at that time. The clock would turn back one hour at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October. The phrase "spring forward, fall back" indicates the direction in which the clock setting shifts during these seasons.

The time period of DST was lengthened in 1974 and 1975. After those years, however, the nation returned to the original DST start and end dates. In 1987, the DST period was changed once...

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