Why Now Daily.

Published

When Do the Clocks Change in 2026? Daylight Saving Time Explained

The United States changes clocks on March 8 and November 1 in 2026, but dates and participation differ around the world.

Timeline

  1. March 8, 2026: Most of the United States moved clocks forward one hour at 2 a.m. local time.
  2. October 25, 2026: The European Union and United Kingdom are scheduled to return to standard time.
  3. November 1, 2026: Most of the United States returns to standard time at 2 a.m. local time.

In most of the United States, daylight saving time began on Sunday, March 8, 2026, and ends on Sunday, November 1. At 2 a.m. local time on November 1, clocks move back to 1 a.m., so the hour from 1 to 2 occurs twice. The practical shorthand is “spring forward, fall back”: clocks advance in March and retreat in November. [1]

Daylight saving time is a seasonal shift of civil time by one hour. It moves an hour of usable daylight from the morning to the evening according to the clock; it does not create more daylight. The National Institute of Standards and Technology explains that United States daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. [1][2]

The rule is not universal across the United States. Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe daylight saving time. Several United States territories also remain on standard time. Travelers should therefore check the rule for their precise destination instead of assuming that every place sharing a national border changes on the same night. [1][2]

Other countries use different dates, and many do not change clocks at all. Europe generally changes later in March and earlier in the autumn than the United States. Countries in the Southern Hemisphere that observe seasonal clock changes reverse the seasonal pattern because their summer occurs during the Northern Hemisphere winter. A meeting scheduled across borders can therefore shift by an hour for several weeks even when neither participant changes the meeting time. [2]

Phones and computers normally adjust automatically when their time-zone database is current. Oven clocks, vehicle clocks and older standalone devices may require a manual change. A device that shows the wrong hour should first be checked for the correct time zone and for an enabled automatic daylight-saving setting. NIST notes that older clocks can contain obsolete transition rules. [1]

For travel and remote meetings, use a named location such as “America/New_York” instead of a fixed abbreviation such as EST. New York uses EST in winter and EDT during daylight saving time, while a fixed UTC offset does not change. Calendar software can apply the correct historical and future rule when it knows the location. [2]

The clock change has no effect on the order of events, but the repeated autumn hour can make timestamps ambiguous. Systems that matter for payments, transport or logs usually store time in Coordinated Universal Time and convert it for display. People arranging an appointment near the transition should include the city, local date and local time. [2]

Sources

  1. NIST — Daylight Saving Time Rules
  2. NIST — Local Time FAQs

Related stories