Spring Forward

First day of spring (or Vernal Equinox) is Monday, March 20, 2017, but before that we need to Spring Forward. Daylight Savings begins Sunday, March 12, 2017, and ends Sunday, November 5, 2017.

What does that mean for us? Trying to remember to set all our clocks ahead one hour on March 11th before we go to bed—and remember the clock in our car.

How did this come about you ask? The concept was credited to Benjamin Franklin who suggested using more daylight hours would result in less candle usage and save money. It was first adopted in 1908 in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada and soon spread to other countries. During WWI the practice was approved to minimize the use of artificial lights.

President Woodrow Wilson signed the first Daylight Saving Time law in the U.S. in 1918. After the war most countries discontinued the practice and it was not reinstated until just before WWII. Around 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt re-established Daylight Saving Time year-round or “War Time” throughout the rest of the War.

In 1966, Congress passed a time act unifying the practice across the U.S. but allowed each state to opt out by local ordinance. Hawaii and most of Arizona have opted out for years and soon Montana may join them.

The dates of Daylight Saving Time were altered several times in the U.S. until the current dates were set in 2007, when the Energy Policy Act of 2005 went into effect and is still used today and is regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

So, what does that really mean for us? Well, we will greet the day a little earlier and miss that extra morning snooze time.