2024 time change dates for Alaska
At 2:00 AM the clocks jump straight to 3:00 AM in Alaska. That hour never happens, and everyone loses an hour of sleep.
At 2:00 AM the clocks return to 1:00 AM, so that hour is lived through twice and the night is an hour longer.
Alaska keeps AKST in winter and shifts one hour forward for the summer.
Countdown to the next change
Economic Impact of DST in Alaska
The economic effects of Daylight Saving Time in Alaska are real but modest, and studies disagree on their size. Retailers and hospitality businesses generally favour DST, arguing that lighter evenings encourage shopping, dining out and other after-work spending — the US retail lobby was one of the main forces behind the 2005 extension of the DST period.
The transitions themselves carry a cost. Research from Chmura Economics has put the one-off economic cost of the spring change in the United States at roughly $430 million a year, driven by lost productivity, workplace injuries and the health effects of a disrupted night's sleep.
Agricultural Considerations
The story that DST was introduced for farmers has it exactly backwards. Farmers in Alaska and elsewhere were among its most persistent opponents, and the American farm lobby successfully campaigned to have national DST repealed after the First World War.
The reason is straightforward: farm work follows the sun, not the clock. Moving the clock forward just means doing the same work an hour earlier by the clock, while deliveries, markets and hired labour all shift with it. Dairy farmers make the point most often, since cows keep to their own schedule and take several days to adjust to a changed milking time.
Background
- Russia experimented with permanent summer time from 2011 to 2014 before settling on permanent standard time.
- The spring transition is associated with a measurable short-term rise in heart attacks and fatal traffic crashes, an effect researchers attribute to the lost hour of sleep rather than the clock itself.
- The energy case for DST is weak by modern standards. A US Department of Energy study in 2008 found savings of about 0.5% of daily electricity use, and other studies have found no saving at all.
Tips for Alaska
Update your car clock, microwave, and other manual clocks that don't auto-update.
Check and replace smoke detector batteries when changing clocks - it's a good reminder!
Use the phrase 'Spring forward, fall back' to remember which direction to change your clocks.
Be extra cautious driving the Monday after the spring time change - accident rates increase.
Frequently asked questions
When do the clocks change in Alaska in 2024?
Clocks go forward on Sunday, March 10, 2024 and back on Sunday, November 3, 2024.
Which way do the clocks go?
"Spring forward, fall back" is the usual mnemonic: forward one hour in spring, back one hour in autumn.
Do I have to change anything myself?
Phones, computers and anything that syncs over the internet update on their own. Car clocks, ovens, microwaves and older wall clocks generally do not.
Is Daylight Saving Time being scrapped?
It has been proposed in many places and adopted in few. The European Parliament voted in 2019 to end mandatory clock changes and the change has stalled; in the United States the Sunshine Protection Act has repeatedly passed the Senate without becoming law. Most of the world that changes its clocks is still changing them.