“Spring Forward, Fall Back.” If you’ve ever heard this saying, then you probably live in an area that observes daylight savings time. During daylight savings time in the United States, residents set their clocks ahead by one hour. This results in mornings with less sunlight and more sunlight during the evenings.
Daylight savings time begins on the second Sunday in March. When it ends on the first Sunday in November, clocks are set back an hour. Clocks are always set forward or backward at 2:00 AM local time.
Most states in the United States observe daylight savings time, although many people have argued against its usefulness and advocate for a year-round daylight savings time without having to set clocks forward or back. As of mid-2019, however, no changes have been made, and the majority of the U.S. states continue to observe daylight savings time. Uniform daylight savings time was established under the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
There are, however, a handful of exceptions. In Arizona, daylight savings time was observed in 1967. However, an exemption statute was enacted the following year, and ever since 1968, this state has not observed daylight savings time. However, the Navajo Indian Reservation, located in the states of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, observes daylight savings time.
The state of Hawaii opted out of daylight savings time under the Uniform Time Act, so this state has never observed daylight savings. Due to Hawaii’s location, there are fewer variations between winter and summer daylight hours, so it makes sense to not have daylight savings time in this state.
Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states in the U.S. that do not observe daylight savings time. However, several overseas territories do not observe daylight savings time. Those territories include American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.