Daylight saving time 2024: Why the time changed Sunday

Did you enjoy the extra hour of sleep? Daylight saving time has officially ended.

It's time to grab your pumpkin spice latte and enjoy the views of fall foliage. After an unusually hot end to summer and a warmer-than-average fall, temperatures will continue to drop. Starting this week, a handful of Texas cities might even see their first freeze.

Here's what to know about daylight saving time in 2024:

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Daylight saving time ended at 2 a.m. Sunday. We have returned to standard time.

When clocks struck 2 a.m., time went back one hour to 1 a.m. Many devices, such as phones and computers, should have automatically changed to standard time, but non-smart devices, such as microwaves and some car radios, as well as any clock with hands, probably needed to be changed manually.

In 2024, we jumped ahead an hour on Sunday, March 10, and fell back on Sunday, Nov. 3. Next year, we'll jump ahead again on Sunday, March 9, 2025, and fall back an hour on Nov. 2, 2025.

Since 2007, daylight saving time has begun on the second Sunday in March and ended on the first Sunday of November, as directed by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Before that, a 1986 law placed the time changes on the first Sunday of April and the last Sunday of October, according to the Astronomical Applications Department. Between 1976 and 1986, clocks moved forward on the last Sunday of April. In 1974 and 1975, daylight saving time began in January and February, respectively.

The U.S. first officially recognized daylight saving time in 1918, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Standard Time Act into law.

The end of daylight saving time means there will be more light in the morning and it will get dark earlier in the evening. Sunrise and sunset are about one hour earlier the first Sunday in November than they were on the first Saturday.

For most Americans, except for those in Arizona, Hawaii and a handful of other places, the end of daylight saving time means an extra hour of sleep that Sunday. It also helps the country accommodate for more daylight in the mornings in preparation for winter.

Daylight saving time is called by a variety of other names: daylight savings time, daylight time, summer time (not to be confused with summertime). It refers to the practice of setting clocks forward by one hour during the warmer months of the year and then setting them back one hour in the fall.

One way to remember the pattern: "spring forward, fall back."

The idea dates back to World War I, although some credit Benjamin Franklin for daylight saving time due to a satirical letter he wrote in 1784 stating: "Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing: and if that is not sufficient, let cannon be fired in every street to wake the sluggards effectually."

To maximize resources for the war, Germany and Austria implemented the first daylight saving time in 1916. The U.S. did the same in 1918. An outdated idea, some argue.

The general idea of daylight saving time is to maximize the use of natural daylight, according to the Almanac. This always occurs around the summer months. As the earth moves around the sun and is tilted on its axis, certain parts of the world experience longer days during certain months. For those in the Northern Hemisphere, like the U.S., these longer days run from March to November, with June to August seeing the longest days.

For those in the Southern Hemisphere, such as Australia, the seasons are reversed: June through August are winter months and are therefore the shortest of the year.

More on the winter forecast:NOAA's 2024-2025 winter forecast maps: What does La Niña mean for Texas?

The shortest day of the year is the first day of winter, or the winter solstice. In 2024, that will be Saturday, Dec. 21.

Sunrise will get later and sunset will continually get earlier as we reach winter, and there will be fewer hours of daylight overall as Earth's tilt means the Northern Hemisphere will point away from the sun.