The schools in Ontario, Canada closed down for the March Break also known as Spring Break after Friday’s classes on March 10, 2017.  The schools will reopen only on March 20.  On Saturday/Sunday (March 11/12 night at 2 AM, the clocks are moved forward by a hour to cater for Daylight Saving Time (DST).

The Spring Breaks dates back to the 1930s when a New York swimming coach, looking for a warmer place to train his team moved them to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, in the 1930s. Spring Break was made popular in the 1960s with the release of the movie ‘Where the Boys Are’  about a group of college students enjoying their Spring Break at the very same location.

In Canada, Spring Break is one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, when cross-border traffic volume increase manifold with parents and children moving to the US, obviously a warmer area, to spend the holydays.  The airports are jam-packed that weekend.  Many Canadians also use the break to escape the bitter winter cold for warmer climates like Hawaii and Mexico, leaving resorts and hotels fully booked.

Despite having the warmest February in Toronto’s history last month, it appears that March is more than making up for the reduced snowfall.  On Monday March 13, with the snowstorm, about a foot of snow is expected to blanket the area according to Environment Canada.  The storm is also expected to bring gusty winds resulting in potentially dangerous driving conditions and blowing snow. The above image shows our home at about 2 PM on 13 March.

The city has issued an extreme cold weather warning and the crews are out with their salters and snow plows to clear the snow to keep the traffic going.  Surely, it is bit of a disappointment for the children as most outdoor activities, other than snow-skiing ,is likely to be closed.  Parents are surely worried, especially those who intended to be on the roads, driving their children to various Canadian Spring Break locations. 

With the Spring Break comes the DST.  It adds one hour to standard time with the purpose of making better use of daylight and conserving energy.  Even though the Sun will rise and set as before, the clocks will show the time one hour later than the day before.  The first to use DST was Thunder Bay in Ontario, Canada In July, 1908.  Other cities and provinces followed suit by introducing DST bylaws.

The first country to introduce DST was Germany during World War I on April 30, 1916, when clocks were turned ahead one hour.  This was to minimize the use of artificial lighting in order to conserve fuel.  UK followed it up and many other countries, including France also did the same. Many countries reverted back to standard time after World War I and World War II marked the return of  DST in  Europe.

In the US, ‘Fast Time’ as it was called then, was first introduced in 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson to support the war effort during World War I. From 1945 to 1966 there were no uniform rules for DST in the US and it caused widespread confusion especially for trains, buses, and the broadcasting industry. As a result, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 was enacted which stipulated that DST would begin on the last Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October.

The US Congress extended DST to a period of ten months in 1974 hoping to save energy following the 1973 oil embargo. The trial period showed that DST saved the energy equivalent of 10,000 barrels of oil each day, but DST still proved to be controversial.  It was then reduced it to eight months in 1975 as many complained that the dark winter mornings endangered the lives of children going to school.

After the energy crisis, the DST schedule in the US was revised several times from 1987 to 2006. The current DST was introduced in 2007 beginning the second Sunday in March and ending on the first Sunday in November. DST is now in force in over 70 countries worldwide and affects over a billion people every year. The beginning and end dates vary from one country to another. In 1996, the European Union (EU) standardized an EU-wide DST schedule, beginning  last Sunday in March and ending  last Sunday in October.

It is believed that DST showed a decrease in road accidents by ensuring that the  roads are naturally lit during the peak traffic hours.  Studies also show that there is an increase in both heart attacks and road accidents on the days after clocks are set forward one hour in the spring.