The most pillow-punching day of the year is (almost) upon us: daylight saving time begins early Sunday morning when 2 a.m. magically turns into 3 a.m. Unless of course you live in Hawaii, Arizona and the Midway Islands and Wake Island, all of whom have opted out of DST. This is a matter of life-and-death people, so take it seriously. And that starts with spelling the damn thing correctly: it's "daylight saving time," NOT "daylight savings time."
What Time Does Daylight Savings [sic] Time Begin?
FDNY Reminds About Daylight Savings In Oddly Twee Video
Zeitgeist alert! Tomorrow is the start of Daylight Savings Time, so the FDNY decided to make a video reminding people what to do with their clocks, because apparently 16 percent of you have absolutely no idea. But from the sounds of it, the FDNY has been watching a few too many Apple commercials. The cute acoustic soundtrack is paired with a fireman with a cheesy smile giving the thumbs up to setting clocks forward an hour and thumbs down to forgetting to change your smoke detector batteries. There are also lots of dynamic clocks:
FDNY, Duracell Distribute Free Batteries For Smoke Detectors Today Through Sunday
This Sunday, we spring forward at 2 a.m., so make you set your clock an hour ahead. And, as the Fire Department always reminds us during daylight savings time, it's a great time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors. (While many homes have smoke detectors, 33% have dead batteries—a situation that could be dangerous.) Duracell has donated 9-volt batteries to the FDNY Foundation, and the FDNY and Duracell will be giving them out in all five boroughs today through Sunday. Here are the locations:
FDNY Invites You to Spring Ahead with Free Batteries
Yes, there is still snow on the ground and and the Gothamist thermometer barely reads over 40 degrees, but believe it or not, Spring is apparently on the way. This weekend, we turn the clocks ahead one hour for Daylight Savings Time, which the FDNY always encourages you to use as the marker to take a few minutes and replace the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
Time to Fall Behind with Daylight Savings Tonight
Don't forget to turn back your clocks before heading to bed tonight as daylight savings ends overnight at 2 a.m (unless of course you're reading this from Arizona or Hawaii). Your computer may have already tried to drop the hour a week ago--some systems haven't made the adjustment since Daylight Savings was extended by two weeks last year. The change tonight means it's also the night the fire department recommends that you replace the batteries on that smoke detector that's been chirping for the last two months. This year the International Association of Fire Fighters recommends going an extra mile and changing to a photoelectric smoke alarm if you still have an ionization alarm. In any case, enjoy the extra hour of sleep.
Lint Buildup Caused UWS Fire
Yesterday's West 65th Street apartment building fire was caused by lint buildup in the clothes dryer. Somehow the lint ignited, and according to the NY Times, "flames racing upstairs in the pipe recesses between the building’s front facade and an inner wall." That's a lesson right there: Clean out the lint!
Springing Forward
Hooray! Who cares about losing an hour when our afternoons get brighter and the evenings start later? You can check the current NYC time here, so you can make sure all your watches, clocks, microwaves, and what have you are properly synced. Now, for the weather to clear up so we can sit outside at cafes and restaurants and in the park.
Avoid the Low Spots
It might be best to know where higher ground is this weekend, especially if you live north and west of the city. A low pressure system currently centered over Alabama is going to bring massive amounts of Gulf moisture to our neighborhood starting tomorrow. The moisture is the orange spot over Georgia in the satellite image. The Weather Service is calling for 2-3 inches of rain across the area, with 4 inches or more at some locations. The ground is already saturated over much of our region and northeastern New Jersey looks particularly vulnerable to a major flood event.

