Clocks going back/forwards....?

Question

The bi-annual process of changing the clocks forward or backwards by an hour - I know it happens in England and France, but does it happen in the rest of the world? Does it always change by an hour? If it doesn't happen in all countries, surely Time Zones would change.

Answer 1

The clocks don't change all over the world, but where it does, it is always by one hour (but not always at the same time) - the adjusted time is called DST (Daylight Saving Time).

The USA (except Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, part of Indiana, and Arizona) has DST.

Canada doesn't have DST but is thinking about it for 2007.

Australia has DST in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania.

Europe has DST except for Belarus, Greenland, and Iceland.

Time Zones don't change as they are based on GMT (ie unadjusted time)

Answer 2

It only happens in some countries.

Here in the Gambia, West Africa, the clocks remain the same all year. No going back/forwards for the Gambians.

Time Zones changing? The reality here is the time zones does change. As Ireland, England is on GMT, at the moment we here in the Gambia is GMT-1. When the clocks change soon, we will soon be in the same time zone as GMT. Then, the Gambia will be GMT. GMT is fixed.

So when I text folks back home, I have to remind myself, now it is one hour behind Dublin, so I can't text late at night. Next month, it's not a problem.

Yes, it makes matters more interesting for people travelling.

Answer 3

No, not all over. Countries near the equator do not have much change from summer to winter and don't need move clocks. Taiwan and Philippines are examples that don't. As you move north though, the days in winter get shorter. and although I think that moving clocks is stupid, (farmers say cows get upset, but a farmer can get up early) that's the way it is. Now I live in Philippines and love not having to reset my watch (and all the clocks)., BTW, many years ago in USA the local governments could pick their own standard or daylight times. Driving through Pennsylvania the time changed from county to county, :-)

Answer 4

Have you upset Fred? He seems to think that because he lives in Wales he is from a different time zone. Someone give him a thumbs up to cheer him up.Especially when the clocks go forward on the last day of March.

Answer 5

Daylight saving time (DST), also known as summer time or daylight savings time, is a widely used system of adjusting the official local time forward, usually by one hour from its official standard time, for the summer months. This is intended to provide a better match between the hours of daylight and the active hours of work and school. The "saved" daylight is spent on evening activities which get more daylight, rather than being "wasted" while people sleep past dawn.

Answer 6

It happens in the UK, France, Germany. Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, etc., and in the USA , Canada, too. The change is normally one hour. In Spring the change is Forward, in Autumn (Fall) it is one hour Back.

Answer 7

Actually, it is up to the individual country/state to follow the time zone changes. India and Pakistan are two of them that I think have chosen not to confuse by not changing the time.

Answer 8

Spring forward
Fall backward

Answer 9

We have daylight saving in some parts of Australia.

Answer 10

yes,happens everywhere.
always with one hour.
the normal hour is the winter one,which we'll have to change to in a few weeks.