Daylight saving ends soon in Washington. Here’s when it will start getting dark
It’s officially fall, and that means you may want to dig your sweaters out of storage and plan your trip to the pumpkin patch.
You’ll also want to be prepared for the days to start getting shorter, with earlier sunsets.
That’s because daylight saving time is ending soon.
Here’s what you need to know in Washington as most of the country gets ready to “fall back”:
When does daylight saving time end in Washington?
Daylight saving time comes to an end Nov. 2 in the U.S. this year, according to the website Time and Date.
Clocks will turn back an hour at 2 a.m., which means you’ll get a little extra sleep that day.
Sunrise and sunset both will be roughly an hour earlier that day than on Nov. 1, Time and Date said, and “there will be more light in the morning and less light in the evening.”
How early will it start getting dark in Washington?
Be prepared for the days to start getting shorter and for it to get dark out earlier after daylight saving time ends.
Here’s a look at the sunrise and sunset times for cities around Washington on Nov. 2, according to Time and Date:
- Bellingham: Sunrise at 6:58 a.m. and sunset at 4:47 p.m.
- Olympia: Sunrise at 6:56 a.m. and sunset at 4:53 p.m.
- Pasco: Sunrise at 6:39 a.m. and sunset at 4:39 p.m.
- Seattle: Sunrise at 6:55 a.m. and sunset at 4:49 p.m.
- Spokane: Sunrise at 6:36 a.m. and sunset at 4:29 p.m.
- Tacoma: Sunrise at 6:55 a.m. and sunset at 4:50 p.m.
The days will keep getting shorter as Dec. 21 nears. That’s the day of the winter solstice and the year’s shortest day, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which noted that winter solstice happens in December in the northern hemisphere.
“We often think of the winter solstice as an event that spans an entire calendar day, but the solstice actually lasts only a moment. Specifically, it’s the exact moment when a hemisphere is tilted as far away from the sun as possible,” The Old Farmer’s Almanac said.
After the winter solstice, the days start getting longer heading to summer.
Does every state observe daylight saving time?
Most states in the U.S. use daylight saving time, although there are exceptions, Time and Date said.
Hawaii follows Hawaii Standard Time throughout the year, per Time and Date, and “most of Arizona observes Mountain Standard Time (MST) year-round, except the Navajo Nation, because its territory extends into Utah and New Mexico — both states that observe DST.”
Even in states where it’s used, daylight saving time isn’t necessarily popular, and lawmakers in the U.S. and Washington state have pushed to change the status quo.
Daylight saving time can be traced in part to Canada, where “on July 1, 1908, the residents of Port Arthur, Ontario — today’s Thunder Bay — turned their clocks forward by one hour to start the world’s first DST period,” Time and Date said.
Eight years later, in 1916, Germany became the first country to put daylight saving time in place, per the website.
The concept was first proposed years before — by George Vernon Hudson, a New Zealand scientist, who suggested a time shift in a paper in 1895, and then later by William Willett, a British builder, who proposed shifting clocks in 1905, per Time and Date.
This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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