Community Corner

Did You Remember to Fall Back? Daylight Saving Time 2012 Is Over

These dark mornings have you wondering: When does Daylight Savings Time end?

We're slowly plunging into more and more darkness. 

The dreaded "fall back" day is coming to clocks across the nation. Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4. 

The result: sunset will be more of an afternoon thing than an evening thing for a while. Well, until it begins again on March 10, 2013, when we spring forward once again. Until then, the upshot is your 7 a.m. commute to work will have more light again.

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Daylight saving time ... remember, you’ll “fall back” and set your clocks back one hour. Many electronic devices automatically adjust when Daylight Saving Time begins or ends.

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When you change your clocks in the fall and spring, it’s also a good time to change smoke detector batteries and check to make sure device are in working order. What else you can do with that extra hour:

  • Watch a performance of the Urbandale High School fall play "Snow White," set for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 and 12 in the Performing Arts Center at the school. The tale of the evil Queen out to destroy the most beautiful girl in the land is a story that appeals to all age groups with not only its drama, but funny dwarves and a Prince who is not only brave but rather foolish.
  • Join the city's Morning Fitness Class, the next session is from 9 to 9:45 a.m. on Nov. 5, and focuses on functional fitness. All fitness levels are welcome and this class is free; held at City Hall.
  • Take in a Des Moines Buccaneers hockey game. The club is back home Nov. 9 and 10 at 7:05 p.m. against the Fargo Force. The arena is at 7201 Hickman Road in Urbandale.

Arizona, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa do not observe Daylight Saving Time. Weird.

Around the world, about 75 countries and territories have at least one location that observes Daylight Saving Time, according to TimeandDate.com. On the other hand, 164 don't observe the time change at all.

Brief History:

According to the Huffington Post

Benjamin Franklin has been credited with the idea of Daylight Saving Time, but Britain and Germany began using the concept in World War I to conserve energy, the Washington Post observes. The U.S. used Daylight Saving Time for a brief time during the war, but it didn't become widely accepted in the States until after the second World War.

In 1966, the Uniform Time Act outlined that clocks should be set forward on the last Sunday in April and set back the last Sunday in October.

That law was amended in 1986 to start daylight saving time on the first Sunday in April, though the new system wasn't implemented until 1987. The end date was not changed, however, and remained the last Sunday in October until 2006.

Today, Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The time change will precede the first day of spring and the vernal equinox, which is set to take place at 1:14 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 20.


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