What is the Current Local Time? Time to Fall Back from Daylight Savings Time

In case you forgot to set you clock back 1 hour last night before you went to bed, you need to. Today marked the official end to daylight savings time for 2011. For those living in the United States, with the exception of Arizona and Hawaii you should have set your clocks back by one hour as of 2AM today.

For those just getting started today on the west coast of the U.S., today marks the move back to Pacific Standard Time. For those who live in the states of Arizona and Hawaii, the fall back from daylight savings will go unnoticed, as these states do not participate in the time change.

Why do we have the time change between Daylight Savings Time and Standard time?

At this time of year, and in March at the start of DST when we ‘spring ahead’ one hour, many ask why we use daylight saving time and where it came from. In a story last week (http://newstaar.com/2011-day-light-savings-time-end-date-approaching-%e2%80%93-how-and-why-did-it-begin/354473/), we looked into the question and here is what we found.

Some have traced the concept back to Ben Franklin who once wrote of how much would be gained by taking advantage of the longer days offered by the summer sun. Getting more done during daylight hours, literally saved one from ‘burning the midnight oil.’

According to reports, it was Germany who first adopted the daylight saving time change in an effort to save resources like coal being used for lighting. In 1918, the U.S. passed a federal law creating the daylight saving time standard for states wishing to participate.

To save resources during World War II, the time change became mandatory, and in fact, from 1942 to 1945 the time change was in effect year round. The mandate was repealed at the end of the war.