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⏰Fall Back this weekend! How sunrise and sunset times are affected by clock change

The sun will set on Sunday a few minutes after 5 p.m.

By: Mike Stone

Posted at 11:39 AM, Oct 28, 2023

and last updated 2023-11-04 06:48:13-04

RICHMOND, Va. -- We "fall back" one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday, November 5, to Eastern Standard Time. This is also a great time to replace the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

This will end Daylight Saving Time, which began on March 11.

Here's how it affects the sunrise and sunset times:

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed when we switch the clocks. Since 2007, we spring forward the clocks one hour on the second Sunday in March to Daylight Saving Time, and we fall back one hour on the first Sunday in November to Eastern Standard Time. This extended the amount of time during the year that we observe Daylight Saving Time. Prior to 2007, we used to change the clocks the first Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October.

Some have suggested staying on the Daylight Saving Time schedule all year long.

Here are the implications of staying on Daylight Saving or Standard time all year, and eliminating any one-hour clock switches during the year.

The main issue for Daylight Saving Time all year would mean our winter sunrises would be closer to 8:30 a.m. In far western areas of each time zone, that sunrise time would be closer to 9 a.m.

If we were on Standard Time all year, some of our summer sunrises would be before 5 a.m., and it would be dark by around 8 p.m.

No matter if the clocks change or not, we continue to lose daylight over the next month. The amount of daylight on the winter solstice is about five fewer hours since the summer solstice.