Turn back your clocks again for end of daylight saving time

It is that time of year again, time to turn our clocks back an hour, or as some call it, fall back an hour. Yes, we will change from Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) to Pacific Standard Time (PST), effective at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

But wait! Didn’t the Washington state legislature authorize keeping the state on daylight saving time? Yes, they did. So did Oregon and California. And our neighbors to the north in British Columbia have indicated they will follow suit if the entire U.S. West Coast stays on daylight time year round.

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However, only the U.S. Congress can authorize one or more states to stay either permanently in daylight or standard time. Both houses of Congress have not passed legislation on this issue thus far. So the twice-annual tradition of switching from daylight to standard time in early November, and back to daylight time in early March, continues.

Fire agencies use the time change to remind everyone change the batteries in their home’s smoke detectors. Too many fatal fire tragedies occur because smoke detectors had dead batteries.

In addition, the National Weather Service (NWS) reminds us to also change the backup batteries in all-hazard NOAA Weather Radios. If you are not familiar with all-hazard weather radios, visit the NOAA Weather Radio All-Hazards home page, including how these devices can alert you to not only immediate life-saving weather warnings like tornadoes and flash floods, but also emergency messages from local authorities for events like hazardous releases and wildfire warnings. The NWS Seattle forecast office that serves Western Washington has weather radio stations in Seattle, near Port Townsend, Blaine, Olympia, and two along the north coast.

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With the holidays just weeks away, NOAA Weather Radio receivers for your home, car, business, place of worship, health care facility, and more can make a fine holiday gift idea. These weather radios are a life-saver for the price of a pair of shoes, and include external features to help those with sight and hearing disabilities.

So remember to change your clocks before going to bed Saturday night. Your cell phones and computers should make the time change themselves. Perhaps this time change will be our last one if Congress takes action next year!

Ted Buehner is the KIRO Newsradio meteorologist. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter.