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For a week each October, people organize international catch-ups and meetings on both sides of the atlantic You may be momentarily confused: Did I miss that conference call? Why is my grandmother calling me so early?
Most people immediately remember: It’s that strange time every fall. Europe And the United States are out of sync as they switch from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time.
Most countries do not observe daylight saving time. And for those that do – mostly in Europe and North America – the clock change date varies, partly because of how time-related laws were developed in different places.
In countries following this practice, clocks are set one hour ahead of standard time in March to take maximum advantage of summer daylight hours in the Northern Hemisphere.
The clocks return to standard time again in autumn.
In the UK and Europe, it occurs at 2am on the last Sunday in October.
But in America and CanadaOn the first Sunday in November the clocks go back one hour at 2 am.
The week in between means a time difference between the two sides of the Atlantic – for example London and New York – one hour shorter than usual, potentially creating chaos for coordinating Zoom calls or other meetings.
The idea of daylight saving time had been around for several hundred years, but it did not become a standardized common practice in many countries until the early 20th century.
Europe first adopted it during World War I as a wartime measure to conserve energy. Germany and Austria began moving their clocks forward one hour in the summer of 1916. Britain and other countries involved in the war did the same soon after, as well as the United States and Canada.
Efforts were made over the years to coordinate time settings in Europe, and since 2002 all EU member states adjust their clocks twice a year on the same day in March and October.
However, there has been no success in coordinating the time change more widely.
In the US, a 1966 law mandated uniform daylight saving time across the country, although the dates marking the twice-yearly changes have changed over the years. in 2022 management committee A measure was unanimously approved that would have made daylight saving time permanent across the United States, but it did not advance.
The current dates were established by Congress in 2005.
Many people do not agree on the benefits of the seasonal time change, and lawmakers in the US and Europe have previously proposed getting rid of the time change altogether. No changes have been finalized yet.