Daylight Saving Time arrives amidst an interesting and strange phenomenon in the universe. March is different from other months in that the daylight hours increase rapidly.
Summer Time: When does it start?
Are you ready for more sunshine? Daylight saving time is just around the corner.
You wouldn’t imagine: the sun is moving.
Winter’s long nights and short days are rapidly giving way to daylight hours, part of a fascinating and unbalanced annual cycle.
Although the times of sunrise and sunset are constantly changing, the amount of sunlight increases rapidly in March (and decreases rapidly in September).
During March, some areas of the U.S. will see an increase of more than an hour and a half of daylight by the end of the month. Florida also gets 40 to 50 minutes of sunshine in March. Changes in sunlight are least noticeable around the summer solstice in June and December. At this time of year, sunlight varies by only a few seconds within the month.
The increase in daylight, or the amount of time the sun spends above the horizon, will be most noticeable in the northernmost regions of the United States, said AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham. Because the northern hemisphere is tilted at a 23.5-degree angle toward the sun on Earth’s axis, this region will face the sun more directly.
Separately, daylight saving time begins on March 8th. Changing the time will not affect daylight hours, but will change the clock and delay sunset time.
March also marks the arrival of spring, and meteorologists mark the change of seasons on the first day of the month. Most people recognize March 20th as the astronomical first day of spring.
Why is the daylight hours so long in March?
The changes in the amount of sunlight we see throughout the year are determined by the tilt of the Earth’s axis and whether the northern hemisphere faces toward or away from the sun.
The Earth revolves at an angle to the Sun, exactly 23.5 degrees. In the Northern Hemisphere, where the United States is located, the Earth tilts toward the sun in the summer and away from the sun in the winter. In the southern hemisphere, the opposite happens. As the Earth’s axis gradually tilts our hemisphere toward the sun, we experience longer days.
Daylight hours have increased since December 21, 2025, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and the winter solstice, when the sun is furthest south in the Southern Hemisphere. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the initial increase in daylight hours was only a few seconds per day and was not visible, but the most dramatic increase occurs in March, averaging 3 minutes per day, depending on your exact location.
During the Earth’s rotation around the Sun, the Earth’s axis tilts toward and away from the Sun twice a year. We call this the vernal equinox, when day and night are approximately equal in length.
Starting with the spring equinox on March 20th, daylight will be longer than night every day in the Northern Hemisphere.
It is most noticeable in March, but daylight hours continue to increase until the summer solstice in June. After that, daylight hours decrease again until the winter solstice in December.
This is the number of hours of sunshine we get in March
Mr Buckingham said the amount of sunshine available in March would be different in the north and south.
“Although daily sunshine hours are increasing in every region of the country, the largest increases in daytime sunshine hours are in the northern United States, and the smallest increases are in the southern United States,” he said.
From March 1 to March 31, the southernmost parts of Texas and Florida will get about 40 minutes of sunshine, and northern states like North Dakota, Washington and Idaho will get about 100 minutes of sunshine.
Although there will be some delays in timing, the increase in sunshine hours will also lead to warmer temperatures, Buckingham said.
Here’s how some U.S. cities will see an increase in sunshine hours in March, according to data from the U.S. Naval Observatory’s Office of Astronomical Applications.
- Charlotte, North Carolina: approximately 1 hour 7 minutes
- Chicago: Approximately 1 hour 24 minutes
- New York City: approximately 1 hour 21 minutes
- Seattle: Approximately 1 hour 43 minutes
- Duluth, Minnesota: approximately 1 hour 41 minutes
- Brownsville, Texas: approximately 45 minutes
- Miami: about 45 minutes
Buckingham said the increase in sunlight will be split almost evenly between morning and evening hours.
Summer time too
Daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. on March 8th, when our clocks move one hour “forward” and we lose one hour of sleep.
All states except Hawaii and most of Arizona have observed this change, and each year sparks a new debate about whether the practice should be completely abolished.
