Why does Daylight savings time start about 51 days before the winter Solstice but end about 100 days after?

Question

Shouldn't the time before and after be roughly equal? Is the need for DST greater in the winter than in the fall? (No.) It's about hours of daylight, not heat, right?

Answer 1

It has to do with the "equation of time."

If you had a "perfect" sundial and a perfect mechanical clock, they would show different times during the year, because the Sun's movement is not regular. The difference between apparent time (sundial time) and clock time is called the equation of time.

As it happens, during the late fall the equation of time is at its maximum for the entire year, which means that the sundial is running ahead of the clock. In effect, nature is *already* setting the clock backwards (by about 15 minutes). So the need to set the clock backward in the fall is less, and can be delayed.

In the spring, the equation of time is negative (the sundial is running behind the clock), but not by much. So the date is more normal during the spring.

Answer 2

Date change in 2007

On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning in 2007, DST will begin on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November. The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete.

Daylight Saving Time gives us the opportunity to enjoy sunny summer evenings by moving our clocks an hour forward in the spring.

Yet, the implementation of Daylight Saving Time has been fraught with controversy since Benjamin Franklin first conceived of the idea. Even today, regions and countries routinely change their approaches to Daylight Saving Time.

Here, you can learn about the history of daylight saving (or as some may say, daylight shifting), the standardization of time, and when regions around the globe spring ahead and fall back. Enjoy!

Answer 3

Hi. The daylight mid point occurs at noon local time. As the days get longer, more hours of daylight occur very early in the day. DST is used to make us get up earlier and use the daylight, but the heat stays the same.

Answer 4

Winter temperatures.

The basic idea is to let people be outdoors after work. That is best when it's warm out. Temperatures are still relatively warm when we're 51 days out from the Solstice. Minimum temperatures occur well after the Solstice. And they don't get back to being as warm as 51 days before until a longer time afterwards.

Answer 5

Actually, daylight saving time ends before the winter solstice and starts after it, in the spring. Don't forget it starts early this year, in mid-March. Maybe they are trying to correct the situation you are talking about. (Of course they also moved later the ending time so maybe not!)

Answer 6

The wintry climate solstice interior the Northern Hemisphere occurs on or about December twenty first each and each 12 months. it really is the starting up of wintry climate interior the Northern Hemisphere, and it truly is likewise the day with the shortest era of time between daybreak and sundown. this happens because of the combination of the tilt of the earth's get proper of entry to, and the orbit of the earth around the solar. After the wintry climate Solstice, days interior the Northern Hemisphere commence to develop into longer (i.e., longer time between daybreak and sundown), and proceed to finish that until eventually the first day of summer season (the summer season solstice).