Get Ready to Spring Forward, Seattle
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Come gather ‘round people wherever you roam and admit that the daylight hours have grown. Yes, the times they are a-changin’. Or at least the clocks they are a-changin’.
It may feel like we just fell back, or it may feel like the darkness has gone on forever. Either way, get ready to lose an hour of sleep and gain a whole lot of sunshine as we spring forward this Sunday, March 10, into daylight saving time.
There are a lot of strong feelings out there about daylight saving time. Some people—including certain Washington legislators—believe we ought to adopt it permanently. This would save parents the trouble of dealing with kids having their precious and precarious sleep routines messed up with each time change. But according to some scientists it would also be bad for our health.
Daylight saving time, despite popular myth, did not originate in America from farmers needing more hours to plant crops. It was first enacted during World War I with the hope that more daylight hours would mean less fuel consumption by people needing to light up their homes and businesses.
The Uniform Time Act, of 1966, was what started our current system of falling back in November and springing forward in March. And other than a brief 1974 interruption when we tried permanent DST (and hated it), it’s been that way ever since. (Fun fact: time in the United States is regulated by the Department of Transportation.)
States and territories do have the right to maintain permanent standard time. Arizona and Hawai'i do this, as well as Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, and Guam. But none of those places experience winters like ours.
On Saturday, the sun will set at 6:07 p.m. And on Sunday, it will be 7:08. Unfortunately, it will probably be cloudy both days. But don't worry, a warm spring is on the way.