Permanent Daylight Saving Time

A couple of days ago, Casey Liss took a break from arguing about temperature scales to tweak me about the recent passage of the Sunshine Protection Act by the House. The Act would make Daylight Saving Time permanent, something Casey knows I disapprove of. A similar bill passed the Senate a few years ago, and Donald Trump has said he will sign this one, so there’s a decent chance it’ll become law. Let’s see what will happen if it does. First, of course, there will be a lot of cheering from the people who moan about changing their clocks twice a year. Well, some of the moaners will cheer—the ones who wanted to eliminate DST and stay on Standard Time all year will grumble, but they’ll probably still be pleased to be released from that terrible burden. I’m more interested in the consequences of permanent DST. You may recall my sunrise/sunset plots. Here’s one for Chicago in 2026: The dirty yellow zones cover the DST period, which currently runs from the second Sunday in March to the first…