ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s one of the most heated debates of the year. Should we mess with the clock?
This weekend marks the end of standard time and a transition into daylight saving time, a move geared to provide more daylight in the evening.
Sure, we lose an hour of sleep once per year, but the sun will now set an hour later.
There is a push to keep daylight saving time year-round and do away with the time change all together.
If we did in fact observe daylight saving time for the entire year, the earliest the sun would ever set in Central Florida would be 6:28 p.m. Currently, the earliest sunset is 5:28 p.m., which takes place in December.
Early risers may find an issue with this as the latest sunrise would be after 8 a.m. Currently, the latest sunrise is 7:40 a.m., which happens as we spring forward into daylight saving time in March. The sunrise approaches this time again before we fall back into standard time in November.
The late sunrise could pose problems for students at the bus stop and those who like to run before work in the morning.
On the flip side, if we observed standard time all year, a lot of your summer evening activities would fall in darkness. The sun would come up much earlier, though, with the earliest sunrise being 5:27 a.m. in the middle of summer.
The latest sunset would be 7:27 p.m.
The time change, while inconvenient, allows us to “save” the daylight in the summer months and it prevents an extremely late sunrise in the middle of winter.
So, what do you think: Keep up with the change twice a year, stay in daylight saving time or stay in standard time?
One thing is for certain, we will all be a little groggy come Monday morning.