We blew it on the time change

By Donna Westfall – March 12, 2017 –

This is what happens when you take a day off.  You forget to check on things like IS THERE A TIME CHANGE COMING UP?

At 2:00 am this morning, the change leapt forward by one hour starting Daylight Savings Time.   2 am became 3 am.

Daylight Savings Time (DST) originated in 1895,  when New Zealand scientist George Vernon Hudson presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society, proposing a two-hour shift forward in October and a two-hour shift back in March. Then, independent of Hudson, a British builder in 1905, William Willet,  suggested setting the clocks ahead 20 minutes on each of the four Sundays in April, and switching them back by the same amount on each of the four Sundays in September, a total of eight time switches per year.in 1907.  He wanted people to stop wasting valuable hours of light during summer mornings.

The first location  to use DST was Port Arthur, now known as Thunder Bay, in 1908, Canada.  The first country to use DST was Germany during the First World War in 1916. The rationale was to minimize the use of artificial lighting in order to save fuel for the war effort. Then the United Kingdom quickly followed when Parliament passed a bill also in 1916.

Did you know that most of the state of Arizona does not use DST?  Only the Navaho Nation which covers three states; Arizona, New Mexico and Utah uses DST.  It is the largest Indian reservation and covers over 27,600 square miles

DST ends on November 20th when the clocks will be turned back an hour.