Kentucky will soon spring forward and lose sleep. When does daylight saving time start?
If you’re ready for more sunlight, you won’t have to wait much longer. Daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 9, when Kentucky residents “spring forward” and move their clocks ahead one hour.
Spring officially begins Thursday, March 20, and Lexington residents can expect some days with high temperatures above 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the coming days after a period of extreme cold and winter storms earlier in the month.
With the prospect of losing an hour of sleep on the calendar each year, Kentucky officials have made attempts to put an end to clock-changing twice a year. Here’s what to know.
Daylight saving time legislation in Kentucky
Kentucky lawmakers introduced a bill in the statehouse in early 2024 to exempt the state from daylight saving time, but the bill never moved past being assigned to the Committee on Committees.
Some efforts against clock-changing have taken a different approach, however, such as House Bill 77, which would establish year-round daylight saving time if authorized by the U.S. Congress. This bill was introduced in early 2023 and died after being assigned to the agriculture committee.
These bills are far from the only effort to end clock-changing in Kentucky, and the U.S. Senate signed off on similar legislation for the nation in 2022. So far, Hawaii and Arizona are the only states in the country that don’t observe daylight saving time, and the Navajo Nation portion of Arizona does practice daylight saving.
The history of daylight saving
Daylight saving time was made a legal requirement by the Uniform Time Act of 1966, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
State governments cannot independently change time zones or the length of daylight saving time, the department reports, but they can exempt themselves from the practice.
“States do not have the authority to choose to be on permanent Daylight Saving Time,” the U.S. Department of Transportation website reads.
This year’s daylight saving time will end at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 2.
Sunrise and sunset times in Lexington
Lexington sunsets have been happening later in the day since mid-December, just before the Dec. 21, 2024, winter solstice.
Here’s how sunrise and sunset times will change in Lexington-Fayette in the coming months, according to global online clock Time and Date:
Saturday, Feb. 1: 7:41 a.m. sunrise, 6:01 p.m. sunset
Saturday, Feb. 15: 7:27 a.m. sunrise, 6:16 p.m. sunset
Sunday, March 9 (beginning of daylight saving time): 7:57 a.m. sunrise, 7:39 p.m. sunset
Monday, March 31: 7:23 a.m. sunrise, 8 p.m. sunset
Tuesday, April 15: 7:01 a.m. sunrise, 8:14 p.m. sunset
Wednesday, April 30: 6:42 a.m. sunrise, 8:28 p.m. sunset
Do you have a question about Kentucky for our service journalism team? We’d like to hear from you. Email ask@herald-leader.com or fill out our Know Your Kentucky form.
