When Does "Fall Back" Occur in Autumn 2024?

It's almost time for daylight saving time to end. When we "fall back," the sun rises and sets earlier.

Daylight saving time ends on November 3, 2024, at 2:00 AM. Clocks will fall back one hour, giving many people an extra hour of sleep on the first weekend of November.

Here's what you should know about daylight saving time. Benjamin Franklin didn't recommend changing clocks back or forward. However, when he wrote a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris, he jokingly suggested that people get up earlier in the morning to save on candles and oil for their lamps.

What You Should Know About Daylight Saving Time

George Hudson, a New Zealand entomologist, conceived the modern idea of daylight saving time in 1895. Hudson's proposal was a two-hour shift in time to leave him with more daylight at the end of his workday for summer bug hunting. Hudson's idea was to move clocks two hours ahead in October for more end-of-the-day sunlight and shift back in March. A more unusual concept came from British builder William Willett. He suggested moving the clocks ahead 20 minutes each Sunday in April and setting them back 20 minutes each Sunday in September.

Changing the time eight times a year doesn't sound feasible. The German Empire first used daylight saving time during World War I in 1916. Locations in Germany set clocks ahead one hour to save fuel for their military effort and to use less power for lighting. Many other countries followed the German Empire's lead and changed their clocks. After the war was over, they went back to standard time.

In 1883, railroads in Canada and the United States changed the confusing "sun times," which consisted of more than 144 locally established times at terminals across both countries. When rail travel became more prevalent, travelers could arrive in a time zone earlier than when they departed. Since there was no standardization, scheduling train travel took a lot of work. The Interstate Commerce Commission was given the power to coordinate railroad travel. Five time zones were created when the United States entered World War I, including the Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, and Alaska time zones.