When Does Daylight Saving Time 2013 End?

Mike Nudelman / Business Insider

Daylight saving time ends on November 3, 2013. You're welcome. Now, get ready for a shock to your system on Nov. 3 - it's time to turn back our clocks an hour for the end of daylight saving time.

At 1:59 a.m. on Sunday morning our clocks will bump back an hour, to 1:00 a.m. instead of 2:00 a.m. That gives us an extra hour of sleep and means the sun will seem to rise an hour earlier than we are used to.

These days many of the electronics we use to tell time - our phones and computers - will do this automatically (unless you have this setting off). Otherwise, we suggest setting your clocks back an hour before sleeping, to make sure you get up at the right time.

We also recommend not setting any early meetings on Nov. 4, just in case someone forgets to change their alarms.

Why all this confusing time change? Well, about.com says:

Daylight Saving Time was instituted in the United States during World War I in order to save energy for war production by taking advantage of the later hours of daylight between April and October. During World War II the federal government again required the states to observe the time change. Between the wars and after World War II, states and communities chose whether or not to observe Daylight Saving Time.