Historically, I’ve been a detractor of Daylight Saving Time. In addition to the difficulties Daylight Saving Time causes in scheduling events, it always seemed extraneous in this day and age with the easy availability of artificial light.
My sons were asking me questions about daylight saving time and their fresh perspective and probing questions, made me revisit my long standing views.
I would have told you that Daylight Saving Time had something to do with modifying the hours of sunlight in the winter but this is wrong. In the United States, Daylight Saving Time is in effect from the second Sunday of March through the first Sunday of November. In other words, the modification in sunlit hours occurs over the summer months.
DST shifts the daylight away from the very early hours of the day (e.g. 4:30am) to later in the evening (e.g. 8:30pm). Those late summer sunsets are a direct effect of daylight saving time.
Sunrise/Sunset on Dates with and without DST
May 1, 2018
With DST
- 6:04 AM sunrise
- 8:00 PM sunset
Without DST
- 5:04 AM sunrise
- 7:00 PM sunset
June 26, 2018
With DST
- 5:37 AM sunrise
- 8:39 PM sunset
Without DST
- 4:37 AM sunrise
- 7:39 PM sunset
September 1, 2018
With DST
- 6:33 AM sunrise
- 7:37 PM sunset
Without DST
- 5:33 AM sunrise
- 6:37 PM sunset
DST Fan
Despite the fact I like to run early in the morning, I’m happy to trade an hour of daylight in the morning in exchange for an extra hour of daylight in the evening. I’m a Daylight Saving Time fan.
Thank You to My Boys
Thank you to my boys for making me re-evaluate my DST feelings and for reminding me to always look at my own views critically.
Photo Credit
I feel like I neee to point out that it’s not plural. It’s Daylight Saving Time. I credit this video with educating me:
Wow – Today I Learned. Thank you, I’ve updated this post to use the correct singular “Saving” in Daylight Saving Time. Thank you as well for the video, it is a fun watch that I highly recommend everyone check out.