GREAT FALLS — Most Americans will turn their clocks back by one hour next weekend, as Daylight Saving Time will end at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 3, 2024.
The change ushers in the annual return to Standard Time for about four months.
The process of manually re-setting clocks has been supplanted in many cases by electronic devices over the last several years, as most cell phones, tablets, watches, and computers automatically adjust the time.
Nearly all regions in the U.S. observe this annual change, with the exception of Hawaii, parts of Arizona and American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Some people enjoy the twice-yearly ritual of adjusting clocks, feeling that “springing forward” or “falling back” helps to usher in a more seasonal atmosphere.
Other people, however, don’t like the idea of trying to trick our bodies - and our daily routines - by adjusting the clocks.
According to TimeAndDate.com, in recent years, several states have passed legislation for permanent DST, including Montana, but it's up to Congress to determine whether the nation will ever do away with the time-tinkering practice.
The National Conference of State Legislatures explains:
In the last six years, 20 states have enacted legislation or passed resolutions to provide for year-round daylight saving time, if Congress were to allow such a change, and in some cases, if surrounding states enact the same legislation. Because federal law does not currently allow full-time DST, Congress would have to act before states could adopt changes.
The 20 states are Oklahoma (2024); Colorado and Kentucky (resolution) (2022); Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi and Montana (2021); Idaho, Louisiana, Ohio (resolution); South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming (2020); Delaware, Maine, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington (2019); Florida (2018; California voters also authorized such a change that year, but legislative action is pending so it is not counted).
Daylight Saving Time will return on March 9, 2025, with clocks being set forward by one hour.
