While winter officially began just two weeks ago and the days are already getting longer, the start of Daylight Saving Time 2024 is only a little more than two months away.
Clocks will “spring forward” one hour overnight on at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 10.
The sun will set at around 6 p.m. in New Jersey on Saturday, March 9. The following day, after the time shift and the end of standard time, sunset is at 7 p.m. The sun will, however, rise nearly an hour later — at about 7:16 a.m. on Sunday, March 10, after coming up at 6:18 a.m. on Saturday, March 9.
Spring will officially arrive at 11:06 p.m. on March 19.
In the meantime, the amount of daylight we have each day in New Jersey will continue to slowly increase. On Jan. 19 the sun will set at 5 p.m. or later for the first time since Daylight Saving Time ended in early November.
aylight Saving Time, sometimes incorrectly referred to by the plural Daylight Savings Time, begins the second Sunday in March and ends the first Sunday in November. This year it concludes on Nov. 3, 2024 at 2 a.m.
Until 2007, Daylight Saving Time began at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in April and ended at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October.
What states in the U.S. don’t observe Daylight Saving Time?
While most states change clocks for Daylight Saving Time, there are some holdouts.
Most of Arizona and all of Hawaii does not observe Daylight Saving Time. In addition, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not participate in Daylight Saving Time.
Indiana didn’t start observing Daylight Saving Time until 2006.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 allows states to exempt themselves from observing Daylight Saving Time.
Four bills were introduced in the state legislature in New Jersey in 2022 that would establish Daylight Saving Time as the official time year-round, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Two are pending, but any bill would need authorization of the U.S. Congress to be implemented as federal law does not allow year-round Daylight Saving Time.
While the U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act in March 2022, the House of Representatives didn’t act on it so it never reached the desk of President Joe Biden.
In 2023, 12 U.S. senators re-introduced the bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.
Nineteen states have either passed resolutions or passed legislation calling for permanent Daylight Saving Time, the NCSL said.
A CBS News poll in 2022 showed 46% of Americans prefer year-round Daylight Saving Time, with 33% wanting year-round Standard Time and the remaining 21% happy to continue to switch back and forth.
