Fall Back For Daylight Saving Time: What It Means In Arizona

ARIZONA — Almost everyone across the country is gearing up, and in some cases wringing their hands, over the annual "fall back" to standard time at at 2 a.m. on Sunday. But the majority of residents of Arizona, along with those in Hawaii, can leave their clocks alone.

Arizona hasn't actually observed Daylight Saving Time for almost 40 years.

The reason why has a lot to do with weather patterns. As we know, our state is hot, and switching to Daylight Saving Time would mean more sunlight at night.

Temperatures can routinely reach a scorching 115 degrees in Arizona, which means sticking with an unchanged clock throughout the year helps with earlier sunsets and cooler evening temperatures.

Not everyone in Arizona ignores Daylight Saving Time, though. The Navajo Reservation observes the practice; the Hopi Reservation does not.

The proximity of the two reservations within the state means that if you drive from Flagstaff to Gallup, through Tuba City and Ganado, you'll change time on four different occasions.

With most of the country "falling back" on Nov. 3, Arizona will be two hours behind New York, an hour behind Chicago and on the same clock as Denver.

The practice of Daylight Saving Time has been used sporadically in the United States since World War I. However, it took until 1966 for Congress to establish the Uniform Time Act, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson and federally declaring the practice of Daylight Saving Time across the country.

Shortly after, Arizona asked for, and was eventually granted, an exemption for the state's extreme heat.

Earlier History Of Daylight Saving Time

Ben Franklin is credited by many for being the first person to propose the concept of Daylight Saving Time centuries before it was implemented. The more modern variation of the practice, though, reportedly comes from an entomologist from New Zealand named George Hudson.

In 1895, Hudson proposed a two-hour shift, so he'd have additional daylight to go bug hunting in the summer, according to National Geographic.