It’s time to fall back – British Summer Time (BST) is almost over, meaning darker evenings and shorter, chillier winter days are to follow as we cross back over to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Daylight Savings Time (which we call BST) was originally introduced during the First World War – giving farmers more time to work and to help conserve coal.
Lately, there’s been mounting pressure to just get rid of Daylight Savings Time altogether.
The reasons for it to begin with are less relevant in a modern world and keeping us on BST all year round will mean we’re in the same time zone as continental Europe.
So, have the clocks gone back this year already, and when do they go forward?
Have the clocks gone back for 2021 yet?
The answer is yes – the clocks went back in the early hours of Sunday October 31.
It’s just a coincidence that the clocks falling back happens to be on Halloween.
However, a good way to remember the day each year is to think that it happens on the last Sunday every October.
We’re due an extra hour in bed (yippee), but this also means the sun will set earlier and earlier in the evening.
So, we can expect it to get dark really early at night – sometimes as early as 4pm or 5pm.
The trend continues from October and November all the way through to December 21, the shortest day of the year.
At the point, things start to slowly lighten up – but not properly until the clocks spring forward again.
When do the clocks go forward in 2022?
In 2022, the clocks go forward on Sunday, March 27.
This happens every year on the last Sunday of March. At 1am, digital clocks will immediately jump ahead an hour to 2am.
This is why, when the clocks go forward, people say we ‘lose’ an hour – people who set an alarm would be waking up at, say, 8am instead of 9am. Yawn.
Losing an hour in bed or not, British Summer Time means longer days and lighter evenings.
The days continue to get longer and longer right up until the summer solstice on June 21 – the longest day of the year.
From then on, the nights start to slowly draw in again, and the cycle begins again in autumn.
In 2022, the clocks fall back on Sunday, October 30.
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