Daylight Saving Time Starts Sunday Morning

It's time to turn the clocks ahead this weekend when Daylight Saving Time kicks in at 2:00 a.m. Sunday.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) adjusts the official local time forward from the official standard time during summer months, usually by one hour. In the United States, it begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

Congress legislates the country's DST schedule.

Daylight Saving Time was formally introduced in the United States in 1918.

The rules for DST changed in 2007 for the first time in more than 20 years.

The new changes were enacted by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which extended the length of DST in the interest of reducing energy consumption. The new rules increased the duration of DST by about one month. DST will now be in effect for 238 days, or about 65% of the year, although Congress retained the right to revert to the prior law should the change prove unpopular or if energy savings are not significant.

In the U.S., daylight saving time is not observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the state of Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe DST).

The time change is also used as a good reminder from fire prevention organizations.  When you turn the clocks ahead, take a few minutes to replace the batteries in your smoke alarms and push the test button to make sure the alarms are working. It's also a great time to check your carbon monoxide detectors.

(information provided by answers.usa.gov)