Yes, the daylight hours have been growing shorter as dwellers of the northern hemisphere enter the darkest days of the year. You know what that means — daylight saving time is coming to an end!
When is daylight saving time ending?
Americans in every state except for Hawaii and Arizona will be moving their clocks an hour back on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 2 a.m. At that point, time will automatically move backward to 1 a.m. This tradition is known as the time change in which we “fall back” and generally set our clocks before bed on Saturday.
The hours of sunlight have been steadily shrinking since the Summer Solstice (the first official day of summer). On the evening of Nov. 2, the sun will set in San Diego as early as 4:56 p.m., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
If you’re a fervent lover of the solar rays, you might want to get your fill of the sun as soon as you can when the sun rises at 6:07 a.m. on Nov. 2.
On Nov. 27 which is Thanksgiving Day, the early sunset of 4:43 p.m. and eating large amounts of carbohydrates may lull you into a deep slumber.
The hours of daylight will continue to dwindle, coming to an apex on the day of the Winter Solstice, Dec. 21, at which point the sun will set as early as 4:47 p.m., also according to NOAA. That day is also known as the shortest day and the longest night of the year. In total, San Diegans will get exactly 10 hours of sunlight that day. After that, sunlight hours will continue growing again.
The daylight saving time debate
The debate over daylight saving time persists as experts question its relevance. Supporters argue it reduces electricity use, boosts retail and outdoor activities, and improves traffic safety.
Critics, however, say DST disrupts sleep, increasing health risks like heart attacks and strokes, while modern energy use has minimized its savings. Businesses and farmers also find the time change disruptive.
Benjamin Franklin gets credit for a lot of things, but creating Daylight Saving Time shouldn’t be one of them.
Is President Donald Trump getting rid of daylight saving time?
President Donald Trump, president-elect at the time, wrote in a December 2024 post on TruthSocial that his Republican party was planning to “use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
But Trump softened those comments in March when asked about the switch to daylight saving time.
“It’s a 50-50 issue. When something’s a 50-50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” he said. “I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark.”
Didn’t Californians vote to remove daylight saving time in 2020?
Yes, Californians did. So why are we still changing our clocks then?
San Diego denizens might remember voting on California’s Proposition 7 in 2018.
That proposition passed by nearly 60% of the vote, giving the California Legislature the ability to change daylight saving time, according to Ballotpedia.
Proposition 7 didn’t actually change daylight saving time, it just gave the California State Legislature the ability to actually change it, IF they earn a two-thirds majority vote on it (from both the California State Assembly and California State Senate) and then IF the federal government already allows it.
However — states are allowed to make standard time year-round.
That’s what California Republican Sen. Roger Niello intends to do. In December 2024, he introduced Senate Bill-51, which would put California on standard time year round, eliminating the need for a time change.
SB-51 became stalled in committee and California’s legislative session for 2025 ended in September. It is unclear if it will be taken up in the future.
Would removing the time change do anything?
Maybe. Maybe not! In the mid-70s, the U.S. had year-round daylight saving time, but that quickly became unpopular and was reversed.
Regardless of time change laws, the earth is still tilted on its axis at an average of 23.5 degrees, according to NOAA. That tilt is responsible for seasonal changes and thus the amount of sunlight you get where you live. Your location on the earth also affects how much sunlight you’ll get in a year. Generally, the closer you are to the equator, the more sunlight you’ll get throughout the year, NOAA says.
If you REALLY don’t like DST, it might be worth considering moving close to the equator, where seasonal changes have little effect on the length of daylight, according to NOAA.
Can my state opt out of daylight saving time?
States are actually allowed to opt out of DST and remain in standard time year-round (as Hawaii and Arizona have done). But, they are not allowed to establish DST year-round, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
NBC 7’s Ashley Matthews speaks to a Sharp doctor on methods to practice in order to help your body adjust to daylight saving time.
Where did daylight saving time come from?
Close to the end of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Standard Time Act into law, putting daylight saving time into effect for the first time in the U.S. in March of 1918, according to the Library of Congress. The move was intended to save energy costs during WWI.
About one year later, the law was repealed due to the war’s end, according to NBC Bay Area.
In World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted a year-round daylight saying time in February 1942 he called “war time.” That DST lasted until Sept. 30, 1945.
When the Uniform Time Act was passed in 1966, standard time was mandated across the country within established time zones. However, states could still opt out.
When the 1973 oil embargo hit, America needed to conserve energy. Thus, President Richard Nixon signed year-round DST (the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act) into law, hoping to ease the national gas crisis.
Congress enacted a trial period of all-year DST from January 1974 to April 1975.
The time change was unpopular. Eight Florida children died in traffic accidents that were linked to the time change, according to NBC News.
Permanent daylight saving time was reversed in October 1974 by President Gerald Ford.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.