Daylight Saving Time Ends 2026: When Clocks Fall Back and Why

Daylight saving time ends in 2026 on Sunday, November 1, at 2:00 a.m. local time across most of the United States and in the parts of Canada that still change their clocks, when clocks fall back one hour to 1:00 a.m. The United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union go first: their clocks go back one week earlier, on Sunday, October 25. Despite a July House vote to make daylight saving time permanent, the Senate has not acted, so the November switch is going ahead as scheduled.

This year has a twist: several Canadian provinces, led by British Columbia and Alberta, have stopped changing their clocks, so some cross-border neighbours will be on different time from November 1. Below are the dates by country, the places that never change, where the Sunshine Protection Act stands, what the switch does to sleep, a checklist and a table of dates through 2028.

When does daylight saving time end in 2026?

Under federal law, daylight saving time in the United States begins at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and ends at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in November. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which keeps the nation's official time, describes the fall change simply: at 2:00 a.m. the local time becomes 1:00 a.m., and that hour is repeated, so the day has 25 hours.

In 2026, the first Sunday in November falls on November 1, the earliest date the rule allows. That means:

• Eastern time: 2:00 a.m. EDT on November 1 becomes 1:00 a.m. EST.
• Central time: 2:00 a.m. CDT becomes 1:00 a.m. CST.
• Mountain time: 2:00 a.m. MDT becomes 1:00 a.m. MST.
• Pacific time: 2:00 a.m. PDT becomes 1:00 a.m. PST.
• Alaska: 2:00 a.m. AKDT becomes 1:00 a.m. AKST.

Daylight saving time began this year on March 8, 2026, and it will return on Sunday, March 14, 2027.

A handy detail for families: Halloween falls on Saturday, October 31, 2026, the night before the change. Trick-or-treaters will be out on the last evening of daylight saving time, and everyone gets an extra hour of sleep afterward. Our Halloween 2026 guide covers the date, traditions and ideas, and our page on trick-or-treating hours by city lists when the fun starts in your area.

Clocks go back in the UK, Ireland and Europe on October 25

In the United Kingdom, British Summer Time (BST) ends on the last Sunday in October. According to GOV.UK, the clocks go back one hour at 2:00 a.m. BST on Sunday, October 25, 2026, returning the country to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Ireland follows the same schedule, moving from Irish Standard Time back to GMT.

Across the European Union, the rules are set by Directive 2000/84/EC, which requires every member state to end summer time at 1:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (01:00 UTC) on the last Sunday in October. The whole bloc switches at the same instant, which is why the local clock time differs:

• Western Europe (Portugal, Canary Islands): 2:00 a.m. becomes 1:00 a.m.
• Central Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and others): 3:00 a.m. CEST becomes 2:00 a.m. CET.
• Eastern Europe (Finland, Greece, Romania, the Baltic states and others): 4:00 a.m. EEST becomes 3:00 a.m. EET.

The awkward week between October 25 and November 1

Because Europe falls back a week before North America, the usual gap between the two shrinks by an hour for seven days. From October 25 to October 31, London is only four hours ahead of New York instead of five, and Paris is five hours ahead instead of six. If you have transatlantic calls, flights or online meetings that week, check the time in both places.

Canada: who still falls back on November 1, and who stopped

Canada has traditionally changed clocks on the same dates as the United States, and much of the country will still fall back at 2:00 a.m. local time on November 1, 2026. But 2026 is the year several provinces and territories decided to stop.

• British Columbia: the provincial government announced on March 2, 2026, that the March 8 spring-forward would be the province's final time change. On November 1, when clocks would normally go back, nothing will change. B.C.'s new "Pacific time" is fixed at seven hours behind UTC, the same offset it used in summer. Communities in the East Kootenay and Golden area, which follow Alberta's mountain time, are handled separately under their local arrangements.
• Alberta: the Alberta government says that beginning in November 2026, clocks will no longer reset to Mountain Standard Time. The province now calls its year-round time "Alberta Time" (ABT), equal to UTC minus six hours.
• Manitoba and the Northwest Territories: both announced in September 2026 that they will remain on daylight time and stop changing clocks, citing resident surveys in which large majorities wanted to end the switch.
• Yukon and most of Saskatchewan already stopped changing their clocks years ago.

As of mid-October, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces had not announced a change and are expected to fall back on November 1 as usual. The practical upshot for travellers and businesses: from November, Vancouver will be one hour ahead of Seattle, and Calgary will match Chicago's winter clock rather than Denver's. Check meeting times and flight schedules carefully if you deal with western Canada.

Australia and New Zealand: daylight saving has just begun

In the Southern Hemisphere the calendar runs the other way. Spring arrives in September and October, so that is when clocks go forward, and they go back in April.

• New Zealand: according to the New Zealand government, daylight saving started at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 27, 2026, and ends at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 4, 2027. The rule is the last Sunday in September to the first Sunday in April.
• Australia: daylight saving started at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 4, 2026, in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. It ends at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 4, 2027, according to the NSW government and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
• Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not use daylight saving time at all.

Places that do not observe daylight saving time

Not everyone in North America changes clocks. Federal law lets states exempt themselves from daylight saving time and stay on standard time all year, but it does not let them choose permanent daylight saving time on their own.

Place	What it does	What it means on November 1
Arizona (except the Navajo Nation)	Stays on Mountain Standard Time all year	No change; Arizona moves from matching California to matching Denver
Navajo Nation (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah)	Observes daylight saving time	Falls back with the rest of Mountain time
Hawaii	Stays on Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time all year	No change; the gap with the mainland shrinks by an hour
US territories (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa)	No daylight saving time	No change
Saskatchewan (most of the province)	Central Standard Time all year	No change
British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Yukon	Year-round fixed time from November 2026 (Yukon since 2020)	No change
Queensland, Western Australia, Northern Territory	No daylight saving time	No change

Will daylight saving time become permanent? Where the Sunshine Protection Act stands

The biggest question around this year's fall back is whether it might be one of the last. Here is the state of play as of October 18, 2026.

The House passed it in July

On July 14, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 139, the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, by a vote of 308 to 117, Reuters reported. The bill would make daylight saving time the new permanent standard time, ending the November switch for most of the country. Under the version that passed, states that do not currently observe daylight saving time, or that had voted to adopt permanent standard time before the law changed, could choose to stay on standard time. The House Energy and Commerce Committee had approved the measure 48 to 1 in May, and the White House has backed it. President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged Congress to pass it.

The Senate has not acted

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Politico in early October that there was no consensus among senators and no clear path forward yet, according to TIME. The most vocal opponent is Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, who argues that year-round daylight saving time would mean very late winter sunrises and children heading to school in the dark. Supporters include Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who sponsors the Senate version, and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who has called for a floor vote.

History is part of the hesitation. The Senate passed a similar bill unanimously in March 2022, but the House never took it up. And the United States tried year-round daylight saving time once before, in 1974, during an energy crisis; it proved unpopular and Congress repealed it later that year. Today's schedule, from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, comes from the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and has applied since 2007.

With Congress out for the midterm election campaign and the House not scheduled back until November, there is no realistic way for the bill to become law before November 1. Even if it eventually passes, nothing changes until it is signed and takes effect. For now, plan on falling back this year and springing forward again on March 14, 2027.

State "trigger" laws

Many states have already voted to lock their clocks on permanent daylight saving time, but only if Congress allows it. Nineteen states have enacted such legislation, The Hill reported in September 2026, including five that border Canada. These are often called trigger laws: they sit dormant until federal law changes. None has taken effect, because states cannot adopt year-round daylight saving time without Congress. States are free, however, to choose permanent standard time, as Hawaii and Arizona have done.

The health side: what falling back does to your sleep

For many people the fall change is easier than the spring one, but any clock change shifts light, meals and sleep against the body's internal clock, and some people notice it for days.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has taken a clear position in the debate. In a statement published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine in 2024, the academy said the United States should eliminate seasonal time changes in favor of permanent standard time, which it says aligns best with human circadian biology. Its argument is that morning light is the strongest signal for setting the body clock, and standard time gives more of it. Permanent daylight saving time would push winter sunrises later, which sleep researchers link to a mismatch between social schedules and biological time. That is the opposite of what the Sunshine Protection Act would do, which is why sleep scientists and many senators are on different sides.

The fall change has a few practical effects worth knowing:

• Earlier darkness in the evening. Sunset jumps about an hour earlier overnight. The evening commute that was in daylight on Friday may be in dusk or darkness on Monday, so drivers should expect pedestrians, cyclists and children who are harder to see.
• Early risers wake even earlier. Young children, pets and people who naturally wake early often find themselves up at 5 a.m. by the new clock for a few days.

How to adjust smoothly

1. In the few days before November 1, shift bedtime and wake time 15 to 20 minutes later each day, especially for young children.
2. On Sunday morning, get outside in daylight soon after waking to help reset your body clock.
3. Keep meal times and exercise on the new clock from the first day.
4. Resist using the extra hour for a very late night; a regular wake time does more for adjustment than an extra hour in bed.

If you enjoy photographing the changing light, the earlier sunsets also mean the evening golden hour and blue hour arrive before most people leave work, and dark skies come early enough for weeknight stargazing. Our night sky guide covers what to look for.

Fall back checklist: what changes on its own and what does not

Most connected devices handle the switch automatically, provided their time zone is set correctly. Older appliances do not.

Usually changes automatically

Smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and computers set to automatic date and time, most smart speakers and thermostats, cable boxes and many newer cars with connected clocks.

Usually needs a manual change

• Wall clocks, wristwatches and alarm clocks without radio or internet sync
• Oven, microwave and coffee maker clocks
• Car dashboard clocks in older vehicles
• Programmable thermostats, sprinkler timers and lighting timers that are not online
• Some home security cameras and doorbell recorders (check the timestamp)

Good habits to attach to the clock change

• Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Fire departments have long used the clock change as a reminder to press the test button and replace batteries in alarms that use them. Alarms with sealed 10-year batteries still need testing.
• Check emergency supplies. With winter ahead, it is a good time to check flashlights, batteries and a car kit. Our winter weather guide has a full storm checklist.
• Review recurring meetings with people in Europe, Arizona, Hawaii, western Canada or Australia, where the time gap changes this month.

Daylight saving time dates for 2026, 2027 and 2028

These rules are fixed in law, so dates are predictable unless a government changes them.

Region	Event	2026	2027	2028
United States and most of Canada	Spring forward (2:00 a.m. local)	March 8	March 14	March 12
United States and most of Canada	Fall back (2:00 a.m. local)	November 1	November 7	November 5
UK, Ireland, EU	Clocks go forward (01:00 UTC)	March 29	March 28	March 26
UK, Ireland, EU	Clocks go back (01:00 UTC)	October 25	October 31	October 29
Australia (NSW, Vic, SA, Tas, ACT)	Daylight saving starts (2:00 a.m.)	October 4	October 3	October 1
Australia (NSW, Vic, SA, Tas, ACT)	Daylight saving ends (3:00 a.m.)	April 5 (2026)	April 4	April 2
New Zealand	Daylight saving starts (2:00 a.m.)	September 27	September 26	September 24
New Zealand	Daylight saving ends (3:00 a.m.)	April 5 (2026)	April 4	April 2

In the Southern Hemisphere each season spans two calendar years, so the "ends" row shows the April date within each year. From November 2026, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories no longer follow the North American rows.