Remember to turn clocks forward tonight

Daylight Saving Time (or summer, as it is known in many countries) is a way of increasing daylight by advancing clocks by one hour during the summer. During DST, the sun appears to rise one hour later in the morning when people are usually asleep anyway, and sets one hour later in the evening, seeming to stretch the day longer. The reason is summer time because it works to save energy because less artificial light needed during the evening, time is set one hour ahead during the spring and one hour back to standard time in the fall. Many countries observe DST, and many do not.

Note: Between March-April to September-November is summer in the northern hemisphere, where many countries observe DST in May, while in the southern hemisphere it is winter. During the remainder of the year, the opposite is true: it is winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the south.

Benjamin Franklin first suggested daylight saving time in 1784, but it was not until the First World War in 1916, when it was adopted by several countries in Europe, which initially rejected the idea.

It is difficult to predict what will happen with summer time in the future. Many countries are changing the date and the desire to change the time because of conditions or special events. The United States, Canada and other countries extended DST in 2007. The new start date is the second Sunday in March (before the first Sunday in April) through the first Sunday in November (previously the last Sunday in October).

For more information
See http://www.timeanddate.com/time/aboutdst.html