Springing Forward

Jumping Ahead.   3/10/2018 dwm photo

I guess it's human nature to wonder why we have to do some things.

Daylight Savings Time, for example.  If you remembered to set your clock ahead an hour before going to bed last night, you might need an extra cup of caffeine this morning.

Over the last week, I've heard and read about people wanting to keep one time all year long.

Some advocate for year round Standard Time.  A few want us to Savings Time 365 days a year.

Depending on where you live, it may not be a big difference.  The closer you live to the equator, day light is close to 12 hours a day.  Further north or south, and the sun behaves much differently.

Let's look at Austin, Texas.  This morning, the sun rose at 7:45 CDT and sets at 7:36.  When summer arrives, it rises at 6:29 and sets at 8:35.  In November, when Standard Time returns, it rises at 6:47 CST and sets at 5:41.

Here in Madison, Wisconsin there's a more dramatic difference.  7:16 CDT is today's sunrise and it sets at 6:59.  The first day of summer, it is 5:18 and 8:40.  When we ask the clock to fall back, we return to 6:36 and 4:45 CST.

In Anchorage: March 11 - 8:28 sun rise and 7:51 sun set.  First day of summer - 4:20 is sun rise and it doesn't set until 11:42 (and it doesn't get dark).  Then the first Sunday of November, it is back to 8:36 sun rise and darkness at 4:49.

The reason Benjamin Franklin argued to change the clocks  was to move the extra hour of sun before many were awake and tack it on the end of the day.  The United States adopted the idea early in the 20th century.

Even with Savings Time, it gets bright awful early around here in the summer, making it hard to sleep.  Year-round standard time in Madison would feature a 4:18 sun rise.  Do you think anyone is voting for that?  I don't think so.

Losing an hour of sleep is a pain, but at least we get it back in eight months.

This article in the Washington Post last week makes the case for year-round Savings Time if we want to leave the clocks alone.  The real downside to that is a real late sunrise in the winter - how does a January 11 sun-up at 8:27 sound?  I can tell you, "Yawn!"