Daylight Saving Time Ending: When It Gets Dark in Buford

By DEB BELT (Patch Staff)

In less than two weeks we can sleep in an extra hour as we “fall back” into Standard Time.

Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, which means you’ll want to turn your old-school clocks back before you go to bed Saturday night, Oct. 31. The change is automatic for most smartphones, computers, tablets and other digital devices.

Daylight Saving Time is the practice of setting the clocks forward one hour from Standard Time during the summer months, and back again in the fall, in order to make better use of natural daylight.

The good news for the early risers is that sunrise will be about an hour earlier and there will be more light in the mornings, but it also means sunset will be at 5:43 p.m. on Nov. 1 in Buford.

The daylight will dwindle over the next two months as we head into winter.

The shorter days and the end of Daylight Saving Time are associated with the beginning of the SAD (seasonal affected disorder) season, giving people less daylight to enjoy after they got off work. SAD is clinical form of depression that is believed to affect about 5 percent of the U.S. population.

Here’s a bonus for you sticklers for accuracy out there: Though many people refer to the day clocks move back as the end of Daylight Savings Time, it’s technically Daylight Saving Time – not a plural.

The end of Daylight Saving Time is also a good time to change the batteries in smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, and to test the devices to ensure that they are still working properly.

Arizona, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa do not observe Daylight Saving Time.