To paraphrase Yogi Berra, it gets late early this time of year, or, as I say, it gets late DEPRESSINGLY early this time of year. FIVE HOURS of daylight lost since summer? Now THAT'S depressing!!!

I just wish we'd stick to Standard Time myself, Dr. Mel. This twice-a-year clock changing foolishness is for the birds. Daylight Saving Time is just an illusion, anyway. We'd still have more daylight hours in the spring and summer, and fewer in the fall and winter whether or not we changed our clocks, and, there are some parts of the country that don't even observe Daylight Saving Time.

The problem I have with it, is how much it messes up my kids (who are under the age of 3) and my own sleep pattern. They get up a little after the sun, and look to go to bed once it's getting dark.
Setting the clocks back means they will want to go to bed at 5:30, 6:00, which is too early, and want to get up at 5:30, 6:00, again too early! The light blocking shades only block so much light!
My Dad is in Indiana, his area doesn't observe daylight savings, and it's a wonderful thing, except when he is trying to figure out what time it is here to call!

If I payed attention to clocks I would be many hours old,as it is I don`t remember being born.
~Peace Glenna~

I would rather the clocks stay like they are now, then it won't be pitch black at 5:00 in the evening!

Yeah, it would. It's just that the clock would read 6:00 instead of 5:00, that's all. Six o'clock, five o'clock, there's really no big difference. It would STILL get dark depressingly early this time of year.

Dr. Mel,
It has been so dark when I leave for work in the morning that I have had to use the shining eyes of the raccoons in my front yard to find my way to my car.

I wake upo thinking its still night and then im not sure what the heck Im doing:)

Dr. Mell,
I think you messed up a little bit about Standard Time resuming at the beginning of October. Back when I was a kid, over some 50 years ago, we went back to Standard Time just before halloween, on the LAST Sunday in October. Last year it went one week later to the first Sunday in November.
The start of Daylight Saving Time however has gone from the last Sunday in April, to the first Sunday in April, to sometime in March.

P.S., I don't like these dark mornings either.

I agreee. i don't like to the dark mornings.

Scientificaly, it seems that people in the lower middle latitudes get the best off of both worlds when it comes to the length of day seasonally.

What many folks tend to forget…is places in the lower middle latitudes from around 35 to 42 latitude (places like NYC, Hartford/New Haven, , San Francisco, St. Louis, Washington, DC , Tokyo, Athens, Tehran, …etc), have the best of both worlds when it come to the length of day seasonally. We get a fairly long amount of daylight hours in summer (longer in fact that places in the tropics like Miami or Mexico City)…yet unlike the high latitude areas like Europe, Russia/Canada, or far northern South America… we don’t have to suffer with very short days in winter. People in lower middle latitude countries like the United States, Spain, China, Japan…etc don’t really appreciate how fleeting “daylight” is up in the higher latitudes like Europe, Russia, or Canada.

Consider that, In the northern Hemisphere summer (when daylight is plentiful everywhere in the hemisphere)…places like Paris (50 north latitude) or London (53 latitude), … have signicantly more hours of daylight than places in the tropics like Miami or Mexico City (19 and 25 north latitude)… and a bit more daylight than places like New Haven/NYC (41 North latitude), San Francisco (38 North latitude), or Tokyo, Japan (37 North latitude).

However…they pay the price in winter:

In the northern Hemisphere winter …New Haven or Tokyo have more than 2.5 hours of daylight than cities like London, Paris, or Frankfurt, Germany. Yet in winter a city in the tropics like Mexico City or Miami… have little more than 90-minutes of daylight than say New Haven or San Francisco. Even on the shortest day of the year (December 21st) … Mexico City, Mexico (18 latitude) for example…has only about 1 hour and 47 minutes more daylight than New Haven (41 latitude) and 1 hour and 32 minutes longer than San Francisco (38 latitude). However, Mexico City has more than 3 hours and 20 minutes of daylight than London or Paris during the winter months…and close to 5 hours more sun than places like Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

Here is a site you might find fun. You can use NYC for New Haven since they are very close to the same latitude. It calculates he length of the solar day for many world cities.

http://www.srrb.noaa.gov/highlights/sunrise/sunrise.html

Do some of the numbers for places in northern Europe and you’ll feel bad for those is places like Norway, Sweden, Finland, Moscow…etc. We have it good in the lower middle latitudes in places like Connecticut. Combine our relative low latitude (41 north) and moderately sunny winters…and many envy our “dark winters” (lol). I spent a single “winter month” in London once…the words “fleeting winter light” have a whole different meaning than in New Haven or NYC (lol). It dusk at 2.30 PM and pitch black 3:30 PM!

What's da fuss 'bout?

I hate darkness at 4:30 in the afternoon. November is the worst month for darkness so early. Who cares if the morning is dark? I'd rather have more light in the afernoon!

Leave the clocks alone!

Personally, I wish they would leave the time where it is NOW..........

This changin twice a year isnt needed anymore...........

Daylight Saving Time in the US begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November. In 2009, it therefore began on Sunday, March 8 at 2 a.m. and ends on Sunday, November 1 at 2 a.m.

Time moves ahead one hour in March, whereas it moves back one hour in November (hence the saying "Spring forward, Fall back").

Not all States observe DST:
The exceptions are: Arizona & Hawaii.
As of April 2, 2006, the entire state of Indiana joined 47 other states in observing Daylight Saving Time

Actually, It seems like we had a nice October so far, plenty of sunshine. But I sleep late, so I’m a bad person to ask. As far as seasonally, I used to live up in the Pacific Northwest (Tacoma). Connecticut is much nicer in winter with the longer days and more sunshine. I need the sun, so I had to get out of the PNW fast (lol).

I TOTALLY AGREE MUCH MUCH TOO DARK IN THE MORNING ACTUALLY THIS PAST WEEK HAS BEEN THE WORSE LEAVING @ 6:30 AM IS KIND OF EARLY AS IT IS AND THEN TO BE PITCH BLACK IS NOT SO INVITING!! THE TIME IS CHANGING THIS WEEKEND ANYWAY SO WE WILL BE FINE BETTER!! HAVE A GOOD DAY AND ENJOY THE RAIN!!! IMAGINE IF IT WERE SNOW!! WE WOULD BE BURIED!! :)))

I TOTALLY AGREE MUCH MUCH TOO DARK IN THE MORNING ACTUALLY THIS PAST WEEK HAS BEEN THE WORSE LEAVING @ 6:30 AM IS KIND OF EARLY AS IT IS AND THEN TO BE PITCH BLACK IS NOT SO INVITING!! THE TIME IS CHANGING THIS WEEKEND ANYWAY SO WE WILL BE FINE BETTER!! HAVE A GOOD DAY AND ENJOY THE RAIN!!! IMAGINE IF IT WERE SNOW!! WE WOULD BE BURIED!! :)))

Hey, lets be happy were in Connecticut and not the far northern USA like Alaska. I heard they have their lights on at 1:30 PM this time of year (lol).

I'll go from worrying about my daughter crossing our street in the dark at 6:50 a.m. to me crossing Main Street at 5:20 p.m. since people have almost hit me then. This is why I love summer!

I'm with you Dr. Mel - although I really have a tough time with darkness from Nov. thru Feb. - those dark days at 4:30 are tough to handle - I really would appreciate the light in the a.m. - it makes for starting the day so much better! I think they should have kept the time changes the way they were before.

Hey, if they can deal with it up in Seattle or England...we can deal with it down in Connecticut (lol).