why does the clocks go back in winter and clocks go foreward in Summer time?

Answer 1

That is goverments way of keeping stores open more in the daylight. It's for business purposes only. It sucks and I wish the states that did it would stop, because when you leave the state your always having to adjust the time so your not late or to early.

Answer 2

It used to give us more daylight in the SUMMER not the Winter.
When the clocks are changed this evening, the UK will go back to Greenwich Mean Time. In other words, the time will be as per the Greenwich Median.

It would be good to know why we have to do it so early in the Autumn and so late in the Winter when it could be left until much later - as it is in the USA. Scotland could still change now but the further South and West you go in the UK, the less is the need.

Give Scotland independance then we Englsih can do what we like!

Answer 3

it was brought in for daylight savings, since days are shorter during the winter, the clocks go back so to preserve daylight. Was a bit confusing when I lived in Australia, New South Wales has daylight savings whereas Queensland doesnt, and I lived close to Tweed Heads, which is right on the border, so one half of the town is one hour ahead of the other!

The reason days are shorter in the winter is because the earth is tilted, meaning that in winter, the earth is tilted away from the sun, decreasing hours of sunlight!

Answer 4

I always heard, since the daybreak and sunset vary so much that it was decided so that kids would not have to be in the dark going to school or coming home.

As it stays darker in the mornings and gets darker faster in the evenings that time of the year. And that... a separate question...why is that? Solis planet movements or something??? ha-ha.
This seems to be especially obvious if you are in snowy country I think. At least I grew up in the South East and that's what I always heard.

I look forward to hearing more answers because I suspect there may be other reasons. Good question.

Answer 5

changing the clocks was firstly made during the great war to gain light during the day time mainly for farmer's,working classes also gained the extra hours light ,some years ago the clock's were left alone and resulted in a lot of extra deaths on the road mainly children

Answer 6

If you live anywhere else, they call it 'day-light saving.' That usually makes a bit more sense!
We change the clock at this time of year so that we get a bit more light in the morning. Unfortunately, it is darker in the evening. We collect the daytime back in the spring when the days are longer.

Answer 7

By putting the clocks back 1 hour in the Autumn it helps the farmers, it gives them more light, although there are I believe plans to alter this in the near future

Answer 8

History of Daylight Time in the U.S.

Although standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883, it was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act. The act also established daylight saving time, a contentious idea then. Daylight saving time was repealed in 1919, but standard time in time zones remained in law. Daylight time became a local matter. It was re-established nationally early in World War II, and was continuously observed from 9 February 1942 to 20 September 1945. After the war its use varied among states and localities. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided standardization in the dates of beginning and end of daylight time in the U.S. but allowed for local exemptions from its observance. The act provided that daylight time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, with the changeover to occur at 2 a.m. local time.

Answer 9

Spring forward
Fall back
Some goof ball got the idea thinking we would get more rest if we fall back since the sun goes down in the west, that we can get to bed earlier, and rise earlier. Too bad we all cant be on Indiana Time.

Answer 10

Actually, it's forward in the spring and back in the fall,
spring forward fall back as they say. The reason; it was Ben Franklin's idea that it would save oil for their lamps as more awake time would be spent during the daylight hours. The same holds true today for energy savings.