When Does Daylight Saving Time 2018 End In MA?

Massachusetts "falls back" this weekend from daylight saving time to standard time. Back? Forward? Up? Down? What it means for you is you turn your clock an hour earlier, or in most cases, your devices update automatically.

It also means the nights are about to get longer and darker. Daylight saving time ends for most of the United States at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4, so you'll want to turn your old-school clocks back before you go to bed Saturday night, Nov. 3. And then revel in that extra hour of sleep (unless you have kids, who don't give a flying hoot).

Daylight saving time — called daylight "savings" time by some — moves the clocks forward one hour from standard time during the summer months, and back again in the fall, to cop to the sun and better use its light.

Massachusetts first observed daylight saving time in 1970. In 2017, just days before Massachusetts was set to move the clocks back, a special commission in Massachusetts recommended against switching to year-round daylight saving time - and ending the practice of moving clocks forward and back twice a year if other Northeast states also participated. The measure would need to pass through several legislative hoops to come to fruition, and so far, hasn't.

So the Bay State continues to march in time with "falling back" and "springing forward" along with most of the country.

Come Sunday, sunrise is about an hour earlier and there is also more light in the mornings, but it also means sunset happens around 5 p.m. The daylight then dwindles over the next two months, and that means the loss of an hour of daylight means many Americans in the Eastern and Central Standard Time zones head out from work around sunset.

Not only does that "feel" later for many, it can be dangerous for drivers.

It's prime breeding season for deer, and experts warn that the animals are more active between dusk and 11 p.m. Drivers should slow down and be aware that one deer likely means more are behind. Use high beams and pay attention to signs that say "deer crossing." If a deer should run in front of your vehicle, experts say to brake if you can, but do not swerve, because that can make a collision worse.

Shorter days and the end of daylight saving time are associated with SAD (seasonal affective disorder), a form of clinical depression that is believed to affect about 5 percent of the U.S. population; it may set in as people have less daylight to enjoy after they got off work. To combat the depression, the Mayo Clinic recommends outdoor activity, especially within two hours of awakening; exercising regularly; opening blinds and window shades to let light inside; light therapy; medications; and psychotherapy.

Fire officials remind us that it is a good time to change smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector batteries and check to make sure those devices are in working order.

Arizona, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa do not observe daylight saving time.
Check the exact time the sun sets after the fall back from Daylight Saving Time.

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