USA and Canada Start DST on March 13, 2011

The clocks in most of the United States, Canada, and Mexico’s border regions will move one hour forward from 2am (02:00) to 3am (03:00) local time on Sunday, March 13, 2011.

Daylight saving time (DST) allows for more light during the evening hours and less in the morning.

DST in the USA and Canada

Daylight saving time in many parts of the United States lines up with section 110 of the United States’ Energy Policy Act of 2005, which states that daylight saving time would begin on the second Sunday of March and it would end on the first Sunday of November. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 does not alter the rights of the states and territories that choose not to observe daylight saving time.

Time zones and daylight saving time in Canada is determined by provincial legislation and exceptions may exist in some municipalities. Mexico’s Congress passed a law in December 2009, bringing the DST schedule observed by northern Mexico’s border cities to be in line with the United States' DST schedule. These areas will have to remember the one hour time difference until most of Mexico starts DST on Sunday, April 3, 2011.

It is important to note that Mercer County, North Dakota switched from Mountain Standard Time to Central Standard Time on November 7, 2010.

timeanddate.com’s Daylight Saving Time Dates for 2011 has more detailed information about the daylight saving end date for the United States, Canada, northern Mexico, and other parts of the world.

Areas Not Observing DST

States and territories that currently do not observe daylight saving time in the United States include:

• Hawaii
• American Samoa.
• Guam.
• Puerto Rico.
• The Virgin Islands,
• Most of Arizona except the Navajo Nation Community.

Areas that do not observe daylight saving time in Canada include:

• Some areas of Québec, east of 63° west longitude, remain on Atlantic Standard Time (AST) all year round.
• Most of Saskatchewan uses Central Standard Time (CST) all year round.
• Southampton Island remains on Eastern Standard Time (EST) all year long.

The DST Debate in the USA

Political leaders and community representatives in some parts of the United States continue to push their state to abolish daylight saving time. Recently, a new approach to daylight saving time was introduced in Louisiana and Colorado where state representatives pushed to keep daylight saving time all year.

Alaska tried to scrap daylight saving time, but was defeated in a legislative session in April 2010. Most recently, Nebraska and Colorado proposed bills that would eliminate DST however both bills were indefinitely postponed. The push to abolish or extend daylight saving time in the US will continue to be an ongoing debate amongst US states. timeanddate.com will provide updates when more information becomes available.

Dates of Daylight Saving Time 2000–2015

These are the dates Daylight Saving Time started and ended in most of the United States and the planned dates until 2015. There is a chance that future dates will change. Also, note that some locations do not observe DST, but those locations that do should use these common start and ending dates.