BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Well, it's happened again, the ritualistic switching of the clocks ahead one hour, also known as the transition to Daylight Saving time. But did you ever wonder when this started and why it's done?
Feeling a bit groggy these last few days waking up? Crankier in the morning? It might be a matter of the missing hour, a chronological caper of sorts, a ritual where we move the clocks ahead one hour in spring for Daylight Saving time.
The purpose of Daylight Saving time is to make better use of more sunlight in the evening during the spring, summer, and fall.
The first occurrence of modern daylight saving time being used in countries can be traced back to 1916 in Germany and Austria.
The rationale was to minimize the use of artificial lighting to save fuel for the war effort.
But Daylight Saving history goes back even further!
Ancient civilizations are known to have engaged in comparable chronological practices thousands of years ago. For example, the Roman water clocks used different scales for different months of the year to adjust the daily schedules to solar time.
The pay-off for this clock change and circadian rhythm disruption for Western New Yorkers comes in June with the arrival of the summer solstice and an extension of daylight into some glorious summer evenings. This map shows the latest sunset times for that time frame, which for Buffalo will take place at 8:58 p.m.
