This is our nation’s last week of the season on Daylight Saving Time (DST). That’s right, Saving time, not Savings time to which it is commonly and incorrectly referred. It’s that crazy time of year when everyone is buzzing along in good spirits, and WHAM! Darkness on the Monday drive home next week messes with circadian rhythms. Studies show more accidents occur the week after the clocks change than any other time of the year.
Arizona doesn’t change its clocks, except on the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. But for those of us dealing with triple digit temperatures in the middle of the summer, the sun setting at 9PM doesn’t make sense. Some think we have it easier, and in some ways we do. For one, we don’t have to remember to change our clocks, at least those not connected to computers that now do it for us. For another, we don’t have the crazy adjustment twice a year of telling our bodies, and our pets that the time has changed. That’s the easy part.
The hard part? Telling the rest of the nation what time it is here. My dad used to say we’re on MST year round. He was right, but it just confused everyone. Now it’s referred to as Arizona Time. During the winter months, we share the same time as our other Mountain state friends in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico. But come Daylight Saving Time, those states go an hour earlier, while Arizona joins the ranks of Pacific Daylight time. That means we share the same time as California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada during DST. Growing up in Lake Havasu City we had to remember what time our flight was leaving McCarren Airport in Las Vegas according to the time of year or we would arrive an hour earlier or miss the flight altogether by arriving an hour late. Talk about confusing!
Why is this such a big deal to Arizonans and 1st Rate Resumes? Because we have clients all over the nation. When we’re on Standard time, we’re two hours earlier than the East Coast. During Daylight Saving Time, it’s three hours. Yet people throw out EST year round when they shouldn’t. It’s EDT in the summer, and EST and the winter if you want to be correct. If you’re one of those who uses EST consistently year round, you’re not alone. Even NPR can’t get it right on their own whiteboard rundowns for their national shows!
During the next 4 months, feel free to use EST because you’ll be correct. But keep in mind that on March 8, 2015, EDT returns, and that will become the correct way to schedule appointments across the various time zones.