Illinois residents have finally made it through the brunt of winter, bearing with months of snow, cold and criminally short days.
But the end is near.
Daylight saving time will start up again this weekend, meaning residents will soon gain an extra hour of sunshine at the end of the day. Here’s what we know about the upcoming time change.
Daylight saving time begins Sunday, March 8, 2026. On this day, participating states will turn their clocks forward one hour.
DST starts at 2 a.m. in the U.S.
This means the hour from 2:00-2:59 a.m. is skipped as clocks spring forward, according to Time and Date.
DST is not observed in Hawaii and most of Arizona, as well as in American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to the Department of Transportation. States may exempt themselves from DST by state law under the Uniform Time Act.
New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson and British inventor William Willett unsuccessfully proposed time shifts in 1895 and 1905, respectively, according to History.com. But it wasn’t until 1916 that daylight saving time was first implemented in Germany and Austria to conserve energy during the war. The U.S. followed suit in 1918 but quickly repealed the time change the following year.
Congress later passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, establishing daylight saving time across the country and cementing its start and end times in April and October (now March and November).
Many believe the time change was created to give farmers an extra hour to work, but in reality the change was enforced to conserve energy and match daylight hours to the times when most people are awake. Farmers have long opposed the practice because of its effect on their typical harvesting schedule.
President Donald Trump previously said he would end daylight saving time after taking office, writing in a Dec. 13, 2024, Truth Social post that the time change is “inconvenient” and “very costly to our nation.”
In April 2025, Trump encouraged the House and Senate on Twitter to “push hard for more daylight at the end of a day.”
When asked if he would end DST in March 2025, however, he called it a “50-50 issue.”
Members of Congress have attempted to repeal DST in the past with little success, including Illinois Rep. Brad Halbrook, who filed legislation in January 2025 to make it permanent in Illinois. Florida Gov. Rick Scott approved the Sunshine Protection Act in 2018, which would extend daylight saving time all year round in Florida, but it failed to get congressional approval. It’s been introduced in every Congress since.
The Daylight Act of 2026 would change the 1918 law and “permanently adjust American time,” per the legislation. Introduced by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Florida, in early February, the bill would move the U.S. time zones forward 30 minutes and leave them there permanently.
CONTRIBUTING: Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, Linda Roy, Galesburg Register-Mail
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Daylight saving time 2026: When to spring forward in Illinois
Reporting by Hannah Hudnall, Peoria Journal Star / Galesburg Register-Mail
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
