JACKSON, Wyo. — Folks will lose an hour of sleep tomorrow night as the spring edition of daylight saving time takes place. The clock will move forward one hour at 2 a.m., on Sunday, March 12.
Under federal law, daylight saving time is observed between the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November.
Daylight saving time is meant to make better use of daylight during the summer months, advancing clocks so the sun sets at a later time. Yet recent debate has suggested doing away with daylight saving time altogether, claiming that it is an outdated shift in time with critics linking the time change to a myriad of social issues.
“There has always been a debate in regards to daylight saving time,” says Phyllis C. Zee, MD, PhD, sleep medicine specialist and chief of Sleep Medicine in the Department of Neurology at Northwestern Medicine. “The science has evolved over the last decade to show the transition between standard time and DST is associated with adverse health consequences. The big question on the table right now is, should it be permanent standard time or permanent DST?”
In March 2020, Governor Mark Gordon signed a bill making daylight savings time permanent in Wyoming. Wyoming is one of fifteen states to have made daylight saving permanent. States currently require federal approval to make changes regarding Daylight Saving Time. Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states in the U.S. that do not observe Daylight Saving Time.
On March 12, the sun will set at 7:26 p.m. in Jackson.
To read more about the history and reasoning behind daylight saving time click here.
