On Sunday, March 8, clocks across most of the United States will “spring forward” one hour as Daylight Saving Time begins for 2026. At 2:00 a.m. local time, the time will jump ahead to 3:00 a.m., shifting an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening.

What is “springing forward”?

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of moving clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall to make better use of daylight during the longer days of the warmer months. When we “spring forward” in March, sunrise and sunset both appear an hour later on the clock, giving people more usable daylight in the evening for work, activities, and family time.

In the U.S., the current schedule for DST was set by the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005. Since 2007, Daylight Saving Time has started on the second Sunday in March and ended on the first Sunday in November, a change that lengthened the DST period by about four weeks compared to earlier decades.

A brief history

The idea of shifting time to match daylight has been around for more than a century. Versions of seasonal clock changes were first put into law during World War I as a way to conserve fuel and take advantage of evening daylight. The U.S. first adopted DST in 1918, dropped it after the war, then brought it back in different forms over the years.

For a long time, states and even individual cities followed their own rules, which led to a confusing patchwork of start and end dates. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which standardized how and when states that choose to observe DST would change their clocks. Today, almost all U.S. states follow Daylight Saving Time, with notable exceptions such as Hawaii and most of Arizona, which remain on standard time year-round.

Looking ahead to March 8

When residents set their clocks ahead one hour in the early hours of Sunday, March 8, they will technically lose an hour of sleep—but gain brighter evenings for the months ahead. Many experts recommend adjusting bedtime slightly in the days leading up to the change, setting alarms carefully, and double-checking clocks that don’t update automatically.

Whether people love it or dread it, “springing forward” has become a familiar milestone each year—one that signals the slow shift from winter’s early sunsets to the longer, lighter evenings of spring.