Daylight saving time ends this weekend and researchers have long found interesting trends tied to the century-old habit of moving clocks forward and backward each year.
Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health outlined a few impacts of the practice, including increasing health risks and sleep pattern changes — most of which occur when an hour is lost in March. However, the organization’s article didn’t address wildlife impacts typically associated with the time change.
Saturday marks the final post-6 p.m. sunset until mid-February 2025. The sun will set at 5:21 p.m. in Salt Lake City on Sunday, and earlier in the day over the next several weeks, leading up to winter solstice on Dec. 21.
Deer typically start to migrate into valley community areas around October and November as snow returns to their mountain habitats, says Makeda Hanson, migration initiative coordinator at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. The species is often more active around sunrise and sunset, as well.