Daylight saving time ends this weekend. At 2:00 AM on Sunday, November 1, clocks go back one hour — so Saturday night, set any clocks that don’t change themselves back an hour before bed, and enjoy the extra hour of sleep.
Most phones, computers, and cars handle it on their own. The ones that get forgotten are the usual suspects: the microwave, the stove, the wall clock, and the thermostat.
What actually changes around here
The trade is a brighter morning for a darker evening. Sunday’s sunrise in the Watertown area comes at about 6:40 AM, but sunset drops to 4:54 PM — a full hour earlier than Saturday’s. From Monday on, the drive home from work happens in the dark, and it stays that way until March. Give yourself a few days to adjust, and be extra watchful for deer at dusk — November is their most active month on North Country roads.
November 1 is also the night winter parking rules return in many local towns: Watertown’s ban on street parking from 2:00 to 6:00 AM runs from November 1 through April 30, and other towns set their own hours. Our winter parking bans guide tracks them town by town.
Change your clocks, change your batteries
Fire departments pair the time change with the year’s simplest safety habit: when you change your clocks, change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and test them. It takes five minutes, and this is the weekend to do it — before heating season settles in and furnaces and wood stoves start running around the clock.
One more date to hold onto
Daylight saving time returns on Sunday, March 14, 2027, when clocks spring forward again. Until then: darker evenings, brighter mornings, and winter hours.
Getting ready for the season? Our November winter checklist covers the rest — parking bans, HEAP opening November 2, pipes, tires, and the car kit.