Surprising reason why two states don't change their clocks for daylight savings

The US has two states which don't abide by its daylight savings act.

Yesterday (March 9), clocks in the US were put forward by an hour. Well, all bar clocks in two states - but why does it happen, and why are two states exempt?

'Daylight savings' in the US

In most locations in the US, clocks are put forward on the second Sunday in March every year.

At 2:00am local standard time, clocks are moved to 3:00am local Daylight Saving Time.

Clocks are then set back on the first Sunday in November each year, moving back from 2:00am local Daylight Saving Time to 1:00am local standard time.

The idea of daylight savings was first put forward by New Zealand scientist George Hudson in 1895. However, it wasn't until near the end of World War One that it was put into action.

The Library of Congress details that President Woodrow Wilson signed the Standard Time Act into law in 1918 in a bid to save energy costs by having an extra hour of light in the afternoon and decreasing the need to use electricity. In 1966, it was enacted as a legal requirement by the Uniform Time Act.

However, states can choose to opt out of daylight savings, and there are two states which are exempt from taking part - Arizona and Hawaii. But why?

Two states are exempt from daylight savings (Getty Stock Images)

Why Arizona and Hawaii are exempt

Well, with Hawaii lying so close to the equator, in 1967, officials decided it gets enough hours of sunlight in the day no matter what time of year, and so it didn't need to adjust its clocks and disrupt people's day-to-day life.

With the exception of the Navajo Nation, Arizona doesn't participate in daylight saving hours, as the state has a desert climate, the state library reports.

Arizona reportedly decided to opt out because if daylight hours in the summer were extended, it would be even hotter - and subsequently uncomfortable to be out in - in the afternoons.

Arizona Representative Debbie Lesko said in 2022, as quoted by CBS News: "In Arizona it is very hot in the summer. In fact, a lot of our workers that work on rooftops, doing new roofs, or on the highways, they actually work in the middle of the night, because it is just too hot.

"And so any time you change anything to Arizona, Arizonans are going to be upset, and it will have consequences that may, that people from the East Coast may not think about."

And there are five other territories which don't abide by the act either.

Hawaii doesn't follow daylight saving (Getty Stock Images)

American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands don't put their clocks forward and back in the same way, the Department of Transportation notes.