Daylight Saving Time 2024 will end when clocks return to standard time

As you leave work on Monday, you may wonder who turned out the lights and feel a distinct sense of disorientation. Relax. You have experienced a classic case of normality, assures Philadelphia therapist Tonya Ladipo.

Clocks go back one hour at 1:59:59 a.m. on Sunday, and with the return of standard time, our bodies undergo a dramatic reboot that goes beyond simply adjusting to earlier sunsets and creeping darkness. “It feels like you're shifting your entire schedule because you're doing things at times your body might not want to,” says Ladipo. Does this sound familiar?

Your recipe: focus on the positive sides.

It's not like we've lost the light. In fact, we've just been given the opportunity to unearth even more of what those who study these things call the most healing light of the day thanks to the early morning sun – not to mention a precious weekend hour.

Sunday is actually a new day, and the cuticle of an almost new moon is visible in the daytime sky. You might even be able to enjoy some “earthshine,” the Earth's sunlight that illuminates the dark part of the moon and casts those mythical outsized early and late shadows. At this time of year the sun works its magic when it is low in the sky.

Here are some reasons to believe that things will pick up after an hour.

“Earthshine” could be visible in the sky over Philly

The moon isn't necessarily known for its subtlety, but it will show its muted side over the next few days, when a curved strip of it will be visible throughout the day and after sunset.

Chances are good that you'll be able to see a translucent glow on the unlit part of the moon at twilight. That would be light reflected from the Earth, as EarthSky explains, a phenomenon known as “earthshine.”

It is fitting that the moon gives back to us because it owes us its life. As astrophysicist Edward Sion of Villanova University observed, the moon apparently formed from a piece of earth thrown into space when our planet was hit by an object the size of Mars. Moon rocks support this hypothesis, NASA says.

Supermoon IV, the final film of 2024, arrives November 15th via Philadelphia

There's nothing subtle about a supermoon, and we'll see the fourth in four months on November 15, when our satellite makes one of its closest approaches this year and reaches the moment of fullness. This will be the last one of 2024 and a special one. Not only will the moon appear about 30% brighter than it does at greater distances from Earth, but it will also rise around 4:20 p.m. and reach its maximum brightness while most people are still awake and conspiring with bare trees to create complicated to create shadows.

On the 14th, at 3:45 p.m., the moon rises even earlier, when it is about 97% full, and on the 16th, just after 5:00 p.m., it is still 99% full.

Because they ride an astronomical seesaw, full moons shine longer and higher as the sunny days become shorter.

Will Philly get another shot at the Aurora?

One reason so many people missed Aurora's dramatic performance over Philly in October was because the show was so short. But an encore isn't out of the question, space weather experts say. The longer nights increase the chances of them being visible. NASA has announced that we are in the “maximum period” of the 11-year solar cycle, when “sunspot” activity is at its peak. Sunspots are solar storms that can hurl large amounts of matter toward Earth, igniting the northern lights.

The peak could last into the summer of 2026, said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center. “In any case,” he said, “I expect plenty of opportunities for aurora sightings in the coming months.”

And a more down-to-earth show may continue in Philly

Aside from the dryness, it's hard to complain about an October with only two cloudy days, and it seems that the sun will continue to reign with pleasant temperatures in the first week of November.

Conditions this week should be ideal for admiring the foliage, now at its peak in parts of the region, and what remains. Don't miss the treetops during and just after sunset.

Get an extra dose of the best light of the day

You can find all sorts of views on vitamin D in the scientific literature, but everyone agrees that we need it and the sun is still the best natural source. Experts in seasonal affective disorder and its lesser variant, the “winter blues,” which arise from the loss of light this time of year, recommend getting outside early and often, and the earlier sunrises offer more opportunities to do just that. Phyllis C. Zee, a neurology professor at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, says early morning light is the best for the day's sun because it shines in a “different spectrum” and is “more alarming.”

No matter what happens, said Ladipo, who has his office in Manayunk, it's important to get outside at some point: The sun is a source of serotonin, the so-called feel-good hormone. She says she spends 20 to 30 minutes a day outside, whether it's raining, shining, snowing or winter, even if her body resists.

“Halfway through, I feel grumpy and grumpy,” she said. But after I felt the light, “I’m glad I did.”

Times are constantly changing, complaints are not

If you no longer manage these time changes, we recommend getting used to them. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, state lawmakers have considered 700 bills that would repeal the change and switch to year-round daylight saving time if Congress ever gives approval.

That certainly won't happen anytime soon; something about a choice.

There are two such bills pending in Pennsylvania and one in Michigan. Year-round daylight saving time probably wouldn't be particularly popular in the town of Houghton in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where the sun rose at 8:39 a.m. Saturday. It lies on the western border of the eastern time zone. If Daylight Saving Time continued, it would rise at 9:39 a.m. on Christmas morning