The nights are coming earlier as first day of fall is days away. Here’s what to know about the autumn equinox and the end of daylight saving time this year.
Many countries around the world and most of the United States, including Pennsylvania, still observe the practice of turning the clocks forward or backward an hour, in the effort to extend daylight hours seasonally. Albeit, the argument to abolish daylight saving time persists.
In April, President Donald Trump urged Congress to make DST permanent in a Truth Social post,“The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!”
However, that April post followed a previous post by Trump just months earler, in December 2024, when he said he would work to end DST and make standard time permanent. And in between those posts, in March, he called the issue “50/50” noting that some people prefer permanent DST while others prefer permant standard time.
The difference is DST would mean later sunrises and sunsets, allowing for more time for outdoor activities after work in the evenings, whereas standard time would mean earlier sunrises and sunsets, which some argue increase safety in the mornings for school children and is more in line with our biological circadian rhythms, according to savestandardtime.
DST is approximately eight months, starting on the second Sunday of March and ending on the first Sunday of November, according to the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
The push to make DST permanent is not new and has been reintroduced multiple times as the Sunshine Protection Act, which would establish permanent DST across the country, extending daylight saving time from eight months of the year to the full year.
The Sunshine Protection Act passed the senate in 2022 but stalled in the House. It was reintoduced again in January 2025, but has not passed.
Pennsylvania legislature introduced a bill in 2023 to establish year-round daylight saving time but it never passed. More recently in March, they passed a Senate resolution calling on the U.S. Congress to end the outdated practice of changing the clocks twice a year. They are one of 29 states thus far, that have introduced legislation to stop the clock changes.
Here’s what to know about daylight saving time, when it happens and what states observe it.
When is daylight savings time fall 2025?
Daylight saving time will end on Nov. 2, in 2025 at 2 a.m., at which time it will reset to 1 a.m.
Why do we change the clocks every year?
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the idea behind daylight saving time was to give us more daylight during the summer evenings and then move it back to give us more daylight during winter mornings.
Will we lose an hour or gain an hour when DST ends?
In the fall, clocks fall back one hour. You will gain an extra hour of potential sleep or play.
In the spring, clocks spring forward one hour. You will have lost an hour when you awake that morning.
When is the first day of fall 2025 — autumnal equinox?
The first day of fall, also known as the autumnal equinox, September equinox or the fall equinox arrives on Monday, Sept. 22 at 2:19 p.m. Eastern.
When is the shortest day of 2025? Winter solstice 2025
The winter solstice will bring us the shortest day of the year on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, with approximately 9 hours 17 minutes of daylight.
To check how many hours of sunlight you’ll get and the sunrise/sunset times in your area, click here.
What states observe daylight saving time?
Pennsylvania is among the majority of states that observe daylight saving time, but there are exceptions.
Hawaii and parts of Arizona do not participate in daylight saving time. The territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also do not participate.
Maria Francis is a Pennsylvania-based journalist who covers trending topics across the Mid-Atlantic region.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Daylight saving time end 2025 time change: When do clocks fall back?