When is daylight savings 2025? Clocks to ‘fall back’ for time change

Despite above-normal temperatures lingering in Austin, the fall season is just around the corner! After the return of pumpkin spice and cooling temperatures, the next major indicator of the approaching winter is the end of daylight saving time.

Here’s what to know about this year’s time change.

This year, daylight saving time began on Sunday, March 9 and will end on Sunday, Nov. 2.

In the early hours of Nov. 2, time will fall back one hour from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. This means residents in the 48 states that observe daylight saving time (DST) will get an extra hour of sleep.

Daylight saving time (DST) claims a variety of other names: daylight saving 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 cannons 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 An outdated idea, some argue.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 orbits 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 mark winter months and are, therefore, the shortest of the year.

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.

This year the autumnal equinox — known as the first day of the astronomical fall — is Monday, Sept. 22, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.

When does the 2025 fall season start in Texas? Here’s when summer ends

The first day of fall varies year-to-year, due to differences between Earth’s orbit and the structure of the Gregorian calendar. The new season arrives between Sept. 21 and Sept. 24 each year.