Daylight saving time 2018 in Maine will begin at 2 a.m., March 11. In order to Spring Forward, we have to set the clocks ahead one hour tonight. The whole country will go this way, minus for Hawaii and Arizona, excepting one small northeast corner of that state, which is the Navajo Nation.

Daylight Saving will end Nov. 5.

Who started this crazy scheme?

According to some, it was Benjamin Franklin. But the Franklin Institute dispels that:

“Daylight saving time is one thing that Franklin did not invent,” according to the Franklin Institute. “He merely suggested Parisians change their sleep schedules to save money on candles and lamp oil. The common misconception comes from a satirical essay he wrote in the spring of 1784 that was published in the Journal de Paris. In the essay, titled ‘An Economical Project,’ he writes of the thrifty benefits of daylight versus artificial light. He describes how—when woken by a loud noise at 6 a.m.—he noticed that the sun had already risen.”

More than 140 years later, daylight saving time was synchronized, and the U.S. followed Europe, when Congress legislated one standard time. Britain had done so in 1916 to conserve energy in the First World War, and the U.S. followed suit.

“The 1918 Standard Time Act was meant to be in effect for only seven months of the year, and was discontinued nationally after the war,” according to History.com. ‘But individual states continued to turn clocks ahead one hour in spring and back one hour in fall. The World War II legislation imposed daylight saving time for the entire nation for the entire year. It was repealed Sept. 30, 1945, when individual states once again imposed their own ‘standard’ time. 

The, In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson effected the law whereby Daylight Savings was to begin the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday of October. Over the decades, it has shifted to March and November.

In Europe, Daylight Saving Time is referred to as Summer Time. 

So prepare to wake up a little off kilter, get a good cup of coffee, or whatever gets you going, and adjust. Spring won’t be far behind!