Daylight Saving Time 2016: When Do Clocks Fall Back?

It doesn't matter how you use it. Whether you stay up or sleep in an extra hour, you're going to have 60 more minutes to toy around with this weekend. Daylight saving time is coming to a close for 2016.

Daylight saving time — often (incorrectly) called daylight savings time — will end at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6. And with it comes short days and long nights.

So if you're staying in, you’ll want to turn your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night, Nov. 5. And if you're staying out to milk the time change for all it's got, you'll want to turn your clocks back to 1 a.m. as soon as 2 a.m. hits.

Some history on this strange and wondrous fall-time tradition, via Patch's resident Daylight Saving Time expert, Bea Karnes:

While Daylight Saving Time wasn't adopted in this country until the 20th century, it's hardly a new idea. Several ancient civilizations used water clocks that were adjusted differently throughout the year. In modern times, none other than Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay in 1784, "An Economical Project," suggesting Daylight Saving Time as a way to save candles. The time shift finally happened in the U.S. in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed it into law to help the war effort during World War I. Back then, it was called Fast Time. It was scrapped after the war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought it back in 1942 at the start of World War II. It's been observed in this country ever since.

Currently, some 70 countries around the world observe Daylight Saving Time. The farther they are from the equator, the more likely nations are to change their clocks. China, India and Japan are the only major industrialized nations that don't spring forward and fall back.

The U.S. also has some holdouts — Arizona, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa do not observe Daylight Saving Time.

Simone Wilson contributed to this report

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