Daylight Savings Time Ending: This Is When MA Falls Back

MASSACHUSETTS — The great darkness is approaching.

Daylight saving time ends Nov. 5 when clocks fall back one hour in Massachusetts at 2 a.m., ushering in weeks of pre-5 p.m. sunsets.

The switch to standard time means Massachusetts will have an hour less daylight at the end of the day and an hour more in the morning. Sunrise on Nov. 5 is at 6:23 a.m. in Massachusetts and sunset is 4:37 p.m.

Compare that to Nov. 4, with daylight saving time still in effect, when the sun rises at 7:22 a.m. and sets at 5:38 p.m. in Massachusetts.

The “fall back” to standard time is only temporary, unless something unexpected happens in Congress. And that’s unlikely. As the calendar stands now, we’ll spring forward again on Sunday, March 10, 2024.

The House stopped the clock on ending daylight saving time last year, months after the Senate swiftly passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would provide for year-round daylight saving time. The hangup in the House centered around whether America’s clocks should be set to standard time or daylight saving time.

Nineteen states, including Massachusetts, are ready with legislation to stay on daylight saving time if Congress lets them, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

At least 29 states have taken up 75 pieces of legislation related to daylight saving time in 2023. There are three bills "pending" in the state Legislature to switch Massachusetts permanently to the Atlantic Standard Time.

A Monmouth University poll last year found about 6 in 10 Americans would do away with the nation’s twice-a-year time change, while about 1 in 3 want to keep the current practice. About 44 percent of those who want to stick with a single year-round time prefer daylight saving time, with later sunrise and sunset hours, while about 13 percent prefer standard time.

Also last year, a CBS News/YouGov poll found 46 percent of Americans supported having daylight saving time year-round, while 33 percent wanted to make standard time permanent. Just over a fifth of Americans, 21 percent, said the twice-a-year clock changes should continue.

The Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act so quickly in 2022 that the American Academy of Sleep Medicine implored the House to step back pending a more thoughtful look at the merits and disadvantages of the proposal.

The sleep medicine group pointed to research showing the sudden switch from standard to daylight saving time on the second Sunday in March is associated with significant public health and safety risks. Among them: An increase in heart attacks, mood disorders and motor vehicle crashes.

“Current evidence best supports the adoption of year-round standard time, which aligns best with human circadian biology and provides distinct benefits for public health and safety,” the group said, adding its statement had been endorsed by more than 20 medical, scientific and civic organizations.

Daylight saving time from spring to early fall became the national standard in the 1960s when Congress passed the Uniform Time Act.

The United States has tried year-round daylight saving time twice before, the first time from 1942-1945 in an effort to conserve fuel during World War II. A daylight saving time trial in 1974 lasted only about 10 months before Congress, facing widespread public criticism, voted to undo the change.

Some of the same arguments are being made today.

Although year-round daylight saving time move the extra hour of daylight in the late afternoon and early evening during the fall and winter months, it would mean many of America’s children would be getting to school in the dark.

Consider the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. On Dec. 21, sunrise in Massachusetts will be at 7:11 a.m. and sunset is 4:19 p.m.