Time again to ‘spring’ forward
Daylight Saving Time starts at 2 a.m. Sunday
By Staff Reports
ALBANY — Remember that extra hour of sleep you got last November? It’s time to pay it forward, so to speak.
At 2 a.m. Sunday, Georgia will officially move to daylight saving time, which means clocks are to be set forward to 3 a.m., effectively resulting in the “loss” of an hour.
The impetus behind the change is to provide more daylight hours in the evening during the summer months. In Albany, for instance, sunset will be at 6:42 p.m. today. Sunday’s sunset will be at 7:43 p.m.
Since 2007, most clocks have been moving forward on the second Sunday of March and then moved back to standard time on the first Sunday of November. Hawaii and parts of Arizona are the only U.S. states that don’t implement daylight saving time, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.
While the last change to the law was made by Congress in 2005 to increase the number of weeks during which daylight saving time is in effect, the USNO says that the practice goes back to 1918. That’s the year when Congress established what’s come to be known as the Standard Time Act. Before that congressional action, time zones in the U.S. and Canada were instituted by the railroads in 1883.
While the summer time change was included in the original law, it was repealed the next year and became a locally determined matter until it was re-established in World War II. It again became a state and local decision after that, the USNO said.
In 1966, the Uniform Time Act formally set the beginning and end of daylight saving time as being from the last Sunday in April until the last Sunday in October with the changes effective at 2 a.m. While there were other changes, such as expanded weeks during the 1970s energy crisis, the last permanent change was the Energy Policy Act of 2005 which established the current start and top times effective in 2007.
With electronic clocks, the changeover usually is automatic. When most clocks were manually operated, they were usually moved ahead or back as needed just before an individual retired for the evening.
If you catch yourself a little bleary eyed and yawning today because of a “short” night, don’t worry. You’ll get that hour of sleep back on Nov. 6.
Related Articles
‘Sounds Like a Mutiny.’ Secret Recording Exposes Claims of Toxic Leadership After a Marine’s Suicide
This week’s War Horse story follows the systemic failures before and after the death of Cpl. Drew Mobley who was the third in two years at Marine Corps Base Quantico to die by suicide.
Southwest Georgia artists recognized at packed opening of exhibition
The annual juried exhibition, one of the region’s largest showcases of visual art, features approximately 46 artists and nearly 90 works spanning painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography and mixed media.
Powerful performances drive Theatre Albany’s ‘The Color Purple’
From the street, strands of purple ribbon wind around the white columns of the historic theater, hinting at the story waiting beyond its doors. Inside the foyer, a carefully curated slideshow flickers across a large screen, cycling through the faces of the cast. Some are seasoned performers. Others are stepping onto a stage for the very first time. Teachers stand alongside former students. Parents perform beside their children. People who worship in different churches, work different jobs and come from different corners of Southwest Georgia gather beneath the same lights to tell the same story.
