Set clocks forward one hour Sunday at 2 a.m. for Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, so it’s time to set clocks ahead one hour as the majority of the United States adjusts to an earlier sunrise and a later sundown as days lengthen with the approach of spring.

All states observe Daylight Saving Time except Hawaii and Arizona (except the Navajo Nation portion of Arizona, which does observe DST across several states), and about 70 nations also observe Daylight Saving Time.

First proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, Daylight Saving Time is the practice of moving clocks forward one hour from Standard Time for the summer months and changing them back again in the fall with the general idea of allowing people to make better use of natural daylight according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

The common expression “spring forward, fall back” is a reminder to change the clock forward an hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall, this year beginning Sunday, March 8, and ending Sunday, Nov. 1. The time change is made at 2 a.m. Most people make the change before bedtime on Saturday.

Englishman William Willet, a London builder, lobbied to put clocks ahead 20 minutes each Sunday in April and reverse the process each Sunday in September to make the change to a Dalight Saving Time.

However, it was not until World War I that Britain established British Summer Time, from 1914-1918. The United States Congress passed the Standard Time Act in 1918, establishing time zones and Daylight Saving Time.

The experiment lasted until 1920 in the U.S. before the law was repealed based on opposition from dairy farmers. Daylight Saving Time returned during World War II as a year-round measure to save fuel.

Because of inconsistent application of DST, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, establishing a consistent use of Daylight Saving Time within the U.S., with changes made the last Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October. Some states did not use DST based on a loophole in the law.

Congress approved a bill in 1986 to move the start of DST to the first Sunday in April as a means to conserve oil used to generate electricity.

The current daylight saving period was established with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which went into effect in 2007, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, changing the start date for most Americans to the second Sunday in March and the end to the first Sunday in November.