Daylight saving time 2025: Clocks across US jumped ahead by one hour
Clocks across the United States jumped ahead by one hour early Sunday morning as daylight saving time began for 2025.
Daylight saving time (DST), also known as summer time, is the practice of advancing clocks by one hour during part of the year, typically in spring and summer.
According to CBS News, the official time change occurred at 2 a.m. today, March 9, 2025, when clocks moved forward to 3 a.m., marking the start of longer evenings and shorter mornings.
In the spring, clocks are set forward by one hour, resulting in later sunsets and later sunrises. While digital clocks such as those on mobile phones adjust automatically, analog clocks and other manually operated timepieces must be reset by hand.
Daylight saving time will remain in effect until Sunday, November 2, when clocks will “fall back” by an hour, returning to standard time. That transition will bring earlier sunsets and earlier sunrises.
According to the US Department of Transportation which oversees time zones in the country, while the practice is widely observed across the United States, some parts of the country opt out. Hawaii and most of the state of Arizona do not observe daylight saving time.
The origin of the practice has long been debated. Some have said Benjamin Franklin started the practice in 1784. He wrote a satirical essay for the Journal de Paris proposing regulations to ensure early risers.
However, the Franklin Institute disputes that account, pointing instead to New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, who proposed a two-hour rollback in 1895 to allow for more daylight after work to collect insects.
Others attribute the idea to British builder William Willet, who in 1907 advocated for moving clocks forward in the spring to encourage earlier rising. He argued that longer daylight hours would help save energy, reduce traffic accidents, and promote outdoor activity.
Daylight saving time was first adopted by Germany during World War I in 1916 to conserve fuel, a move later followed by other European countries and eventually the United States in 1918.
The current schedule, which begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, was established under former President George W. Bush.
