Daylight Saving Time Begins At The Earliest Possible Time This Spring In Iowa And Illinois

So the time to start mentally prepping for the time change is now.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there's a downside to the 2026 calendar. The good news: a lot of holidays fall on Saturdays, like Valentine's Day did, the 4th of July will, Halloween will, etc.

But the bad news is that this year, Daylight Saving Time will "spring forward" at the earliest possible time that it can in the calendar.

If you're confused as to why any of us even do Daylight Saving Time anymore, you're not alone. Multiple states have rolled out bills to quit the time changes. Lawmakers in Illinois are pushing to establish permanent Daylight Saving Time.

Prepare Yourself Now

It's really going to especially suck this year. You're getting robbed of that extra hour of sleep earlier than most years.

DST always starts on the 2nd Sunday of March, per the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This year, that's Sunday, March 8th. Experts say that's the earliest possible date for it to begin, as March 1st is also on a Sunday.

And the flip side of this: we'll "fall back" at the earliest possible time for it in November too, which will be November 1st.

The Daylight Saving Time used to look different with the "spring forward" used to be on the 1st Sunday in April and stayed in place until the last Sunday in October. It was tweaked to allow kids more daylight to trick-or-treat.

We know it's going to suck for a while but hey, we'll have 7:00 p.m. sunsets back.