Did you spring forward?

Published 12:00 am Sunday, March 14, 2010

NATCHEZ — An extra cup of coffee may be needed today to ward off the yawns caused by a short night’s sleep.

Today, in observance of daylight-saving time, clocks were adjusted forward one hour.

Daylight-saving time was first adopted by the United States in 1918 as a way of conserving coal during wartime. The time change allows for more daylight hours.

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The original act was repealed in 1919.

Daylight-saving time was re-enacted by Congress in the War Time Act in 1942 and remained in effect until 1945.

From 1945 to 1966 no federal law addressed daylight-saving time, and states and localities were free to decide whether or not to observe daylight-saving time.

In 1966, the Uniform Time Act became law and mandated the implementation of daylight-saving time. States were allowed to pass laws exempting them from daylight-saving time.

In 2007, daylight-saving time was extended by approximately a month to begin at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March and end at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November.

Prior to that change, daylight-saving time was observed from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday of October.

Daylight-saving time ends this year on Sunday, Nov. 7.