Turn back the clock! It’s that time of the year again. Today, the sun rose late, well after 8 am -nearly 8:30! It will set around a quarter after 6 pm. We will have less than ten hours of daylight.
On Sunday, when Daylight Savings Ends and we turn our clocks back an hour, we will have about nine and a half hours of daylight. The sun will rise at approximately what we’ll be calling 7:30, and set just a little after 5 pm.
On December 21st, the Winter Solstice, our shortest day, daylight will only last about eight hours and fifteen minutes.
At this end of things, an extra hour of sleep feels pleasant -it was certainly an unexpected boon when I was a teenager- but I’m old enough now to remember what is on the other side of the extra sleep. March!
If the amount of research into the health consequences is any indication, I’m not the only one who finds the early wake-up in March unpleasant. As it happens, there’s an increase risk of heart attack the Monday after “springing forward” in March, and a decrease risk the Monday after “Falling Back”. There also appears to be some increased risk of stroke after the “spring forward”.
But, since Montana is one of the US States that participates in daylight savings time (Only Arizona and Hawaii do not), we’ll be turning the clock back, regardless of the risks (or benefits).
Trego's Mountain Ear 