Reminder: Daylight Saving Time 2017 Time Change

Barbecue grills, flip-flops, garden plants – don’t break them out just yet. Well, we’ve all grilled out already during one of the warmest February months on record in Georgia. While spring doesn’t pop up on the calendar until March 20, the first hint of it comes when Daylight Saving Time officially begins on Sunday, March 12.

The time change officially takes place at 2 a.m., so change your microwave and old-school clocks before you head to bed Saturday night. The change is automatic for most smartphones, computers, tablets and other digital devices.

One other thing to do Saturday night: Test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Just before you move that clock hand forward an hour, push the test button on the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm(s) in your home. If they do not work, replace the battery — unless it is a sealed 10-year lithium battery, in which case you will have to get a new alarm.

Georgia and many other parts of the country have had a mild winter, with January one of third wettest for the state. And February 2017 in Georgia was the second-warmest winter on record, says USA Today. Sadly, it will not feel much like spring on Sunday just because of sunlight later in the day; the predicted high is 50 degrees with a north wind and an 80 percent chance of rain, according to the National Weather Service.

Sunset in Atlanta on March 12 will be at 7:43 p.m. The sun is up until 6:54 p.m. in Chicago, until 7:12 p.m in Washington, D.C., and until 6:59 p.m. in Los Angeles.

Still, the longer days and the beginning of daylight saving time are associated with the end of the SAD (seasonal affected disorder) season, giving people an extra hour of daylight to enjoy after they got off work. SAD is clinical form of depression that is believed to affect about 5 percent of the U.S. population.

Tell Us: What are you looking forward to most about the beginning of daylight saving time?

Michael Downing, the author of "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time," says one of the largest supporters of the annual clock change is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Business owners find that as the days grow longer, people shop more, with the golf and barbecue industries earning some of the biggest benefits, reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars, reports CNBC.

Critics say the lost hour of sleep harms our health, from increased strokes and heart attacks to lost productivity and workplace injuries.

Here’s a bonus for you sticklers for accuracy out there: Though many people refer to the day clocks move forward as the beginning of Daylight Savings Time, it’s technically Daylight Saving Time. And when does it end? DST will last until Nov. 5, 2017.

The change affects all states except Arizona and Hawaii.
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