7 March, 2014
Next weekend means March 9, 2014. The official change of time begins at 2 a.m. early on Sunday morning when most computer and electronic clocks will automatically reset themselves and jump one hour ahead. So instead of 2 a.m., the clocks will show 3 a.m.
Daylight Saving Time is a way of making better use of the daylight in the evenings by setting the clocks forward one hour during the longer days of summer. In the United States, the time will fall back again on Nov. 2, 2014, when DST ends.
However, not all states in the U.S. observe Daylight Saving Time. Since the federal government does not require U.S. states or territories to observe DST, residents of Arizona (except for residents of the Navajo Indian Reservation), Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands do not need to change their clocks.
Daylight Saving Time is observed in most European countries but occurs usually at the end of March and only lasts until October. In the southern hemisphere, the beginning of summer is the beginning of winter so DST usually ends in March. Countries like Afghanistan, Argentina, some regions in Canada, and China do not observe Daylight Saving Time which might be important for international travelers. Mexico changes its clocks for DST on Sunday, April 6, and it lasts until Sunday, Oct. 26. A list of countries and their 2014 Daylight Saving Time dates is available on TimesandDates. Along with more daylight hours beginning on March 9, Fox 17 reports that people can also look forward to higher temperatures. After a long cold winter, that is something most people look forward to -- saving time and energy.
Daylight Savings Time is also a good time to change the batteries in you smoke detectors. A working smoke detector can provide crucial extra seconds to escape a burning home. Two-thirds (65%) of home fire deaths result from fires in homes without working smoke detectors. The International Association of Fire Chiefs and Energizer remind families to adopt the life-saving habit of Change Your Clock Change Your Battery this weekend by changing the batteries in their smoke alarms when they change their clocks back to Standard time.
