When is daylight savings time 2010?

Editor's note: Daylight savings time used in the article should be daylight saving time.

Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead one hour this weekend. Daylight savings time begins Sunday, March 14, at 2:00 a.m. (which becomes 3:00 a.m.). For more information, including the areas of the U.S. that don't observe the time change, visit the FAQ at USA.gov.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed the start and end dates of Daylight Savings Time in the United States. As of 2007, DST begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is required to study the impact of this DST extension, and the United States Congress has retained the right to revert back to the previous DST schedule if it cannot be shown that there are significant energy savings.

In the United States, the law which governs the use of Daylight Savings Time, is known as the Uniform Time Act of 1966. This Act provided a standard for establishing the dates when DST begins and ends in the U.S., while allowing local exemptions from its observance. States that wanted to be exempt from DST could pass a law exempting the entire state. The states of Arizona and Hawaii do not observe DST. However, the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona does. In addition, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not observe DST.

Approximately 70 countries observe DST.

Additional Resources:

• Time Exhibits
• Standards: Leap Year
• The Seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

What is daylight savings time?

Starting in 2007, daylight savings time begins in the United States on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. On the second Sunday in March, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. local standard time, which becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. On the first Sunday in November, clocks are set back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time, which becomes 1:00 a.m. local standard time. These dates were established by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. no. 109-58, 119 Stat 594 (2005).

Not all places in the U.S. observe daylight savings time. In particular, Hawaii and most of Arizona do not use it. Indiana adopted its use beginning in 2006.

* New law went into effect.

Many other countries observe some form of "summer time", but they do not necessarily change their clocks on the same dates as the U.S.

Daylight time and time zones in the U.S. are defined in the U.S. Code, Title 15, Chapter 6, Subchapter IX - Standard Time.

History of Daylight savings Time in the U.S.

Although standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883, it was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act. The act also established daylight saving time, a contentious idea then. Daylight saving time was repealed in 1919, but standard time in time zones remained in law. Daylight time became a local matter. It was re-established nationally early in World War II, and was continuously observed from 9 February 1942 to 30 September 1945. After the war its use varied among states and localities. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided standardization in the dates of beginning and end of daylight time in the U.S. but allowed for local exemptions from its observance. The act provided that daylight time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, with the changeover to occur at 2 a.m. local time.

During the "energy crisis" years, Congress enacted earlier starting dates for daylight time. In 1974, daylight time began on 6 January and in 1975 it began on 23 February. After those two years the starting date reverted back to the last Sunday in April. In 1986, a law was passed that shifted the starting date of daylight time to the first Sunday in April, beginning in 1987. The ending date of daylight time was not subject to such changes, and remained the last Sunday in October. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed both the starting and ending dates. Beginning in 2007, daylight time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

For a very readable account of the history of standard and daylight savings time in the U.S., see

Ian R. Bartky and Elizabeth Harrison: "Standard and Daylight-saving Time",Scientific American, May 1979 (Vol. 240, No. 5), pp. 46-53.

Cited from http://aa.usno.navy.mil