Daylight Saving Time 2013: Don't Forget To Spring Forward Tonight

Just when you were getting used to the blinding light of the sun on your morning commute to work and squinty drives to school, Daylight Saving Time begins. People will set their clocks ahead an hour 2 a.m. Sunday.

The first two weeks after the change, the sun will rise from 7:10 to 7:30 a.m. in Ames and the sun will set about 7:20 p.m., according to a sunrise, sunset clock.

This is also the time of year that local firefighters ask everyone to check their smoke detectors and replace batteries if that's what powers them.

Daylight Saving Time was extended by four weeks in 2007, before that time Daylight Saving Time began in April and ended in October. The change saved about half a percent of energy consumption each day, according to a 2008Department of Energy study. That sounds like a small amount but the energy saved is enough to power 122,000 average US households for a year, according to Energy.gov.

Is Daylight Saving Time worth it? Tell us in the comments.

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Brief History:

According to the Huffington Post: 

Benjamin Franklin has been credited with the idea of daylight saving time, but Britain and Germany began using the concept in World War I to conserve energy, the Washington Post observes. The U.S. used daylight saving time for a brief time during the war, but it didn't become widely accepted in the States until after the second World War.

In 1966, the Uniform Time Act outlined that clocks should be set forward on the last Sunday in April and set back the last Sunday in October.

That law was amended in 1986 to start daylight saving time on the first Sunday in April, though the new system wasn't implemented until 1987. The end date was not changed, however, and remained the last Sunday in October until 2006.

Today, daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The time change will precede the first day of spring and the vernal equinox, which is set to take place at 12:14 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, March 20.