When Do We Set Our Clocks Ahead

Many people ask the question 'when do we set our clocks ahead?'. Our clocks change twice a year, once in the spring when they 'spring forward' and once in the fall when they 'fall back'.

Before the advent of clocks and watches, people used the sun and daylight to order their days. In the summer, when the days were long, people would spend a lot of time working in the fields and on the land. When the winter came and the days were shorter, people would be earlier to bed and later to rise. Now that everyone has clocks and we have a uniform time keeping system, the accurate time is much more important to us. So much so that we now control time and change the clocks twice a year. The clocks are moved forward in the spring. This is known as 'Daylight Saving'.

Daylight saving is the time between when the clocks go forward in the spring and when they go back in the fall. This is the time of the year when the days are at their longest. This means that there are more hours of daylight. Daylight saving has been introduced to gain the maximum benefit from natural daylight. This has a number of benefits. These include:

The fact that the clocks go forward means that the evenings stay lighter for an extra hour. This has the benefit of meaning that households need less artificial light in the homes in the evening. The fact that there is less artificial light means that less energy is used and this saves money as well as helping the environment. Because the sun rises early during the mornings in the summer, there is limited negative effect on the amount of energy consumed by needing additional lights early in the morning.

The extra hour of daylight has many health and safety benefits. It means that people are traveling in daylight, which can reduce accidents. The extra hour of light in the evenings can also help to reduce the amount of crime. This is because crime is more likely to be committed in periods of darkness rather than in bright daylight.

If you are wondering 'when do we set our clocks ahead', then the answer is quite simple! Starting in 2007, the clocks change in the United States on the second Sunday of March, moving forward one hour at 2:00 a.m. The clocks go back on the first Sunday of November at 2:00 a.m. This makes it very easy to remember when the clocks change.

• 2010 – clocks move forward on March 14. Clocks move back on November 7.
• 2011 – clocks move forward on March 13. Clocks move back on November 6
• 2012 – clocks move forward on March 10. Clocks move back on November 3

There are a number of very interesting websites that offer further reading about the changing of the clocks and the effects that this has. These include:

• Time and Date – this website has lots of information about the time and date all over the world. This page looks at how the transition to daylight saving takes place.
• World Time Zone – this page features a useful global map that graphically represents which countries move to daylight saving. There is also a chart detailing when each country moves to daylight saving.
• Time.gov – the official US time website. As well as finding out more about the time in the United States, this website also features a number of useful links to other relevant websites.

Knowing when the clocks change forward can help you plan what to do with the 'extra' hour of daylight!

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