You’ve probably noticed that your afternoon commute is getting darker by the day. That’s a clear sign that daylight saving time is about to end and the time change is just around the corner.

Daylight saving time ends Sunday, November 3 at 2 a.m. On that day we “fall back” the clock one hour to move more daylight to the morning hours. We will stay on standard time with sunnier mornings and darker afternoons until daylight saving time starts again on Sunday, March 9, 2025.

For most people, this means turning their clocks back an hour before going to bed on the evening of November 3. Modern technology does the rest, with phones, computers and cars automatically adjusting the time.

Daylight saving time starts every year on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The time change is being observed in every U.S. state except two – Hawaii and most of Arizona, where all parts of the state except the Navajo Nation are making the change.

Changing the clocks twice a year, which saved energy during wartime, has become increasingly unpopular in recent years, and as many as 19 states – including Alabama – have drafted measures to end the practice. However, it will take action from Congress to permanently end this practice, and so far federal lawmakers have been slow to act.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the switch to daylight saving time was formally introduced in the US in 1918 as an energy-saving measure intended to bring more daylight during times when people were outdoors. It ended after World War I, but was brought back again during World War II. After the war, local jurisdictions were free to determine whether to observe daylight saving time and what dates to use.

The dates for daylight saving time and standard time have changed several times throughout history, including most recently in 2007 when the Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended the duration of daylight saving time by one month in the interest of reducing energy consumption.