Don’t Be Late: When Daylight Saving Time Starts in Rochester, MN

It's a sure sign of spring. It means more hours of sunlight. It's our annual switch to Daylight Saving Time, and here's when it's happening this year in Rochester, Minnesota.

There's a feeling many Minnesotans get during the last weeks of February. Many of us don't want to say such a thing out loud, for fear of angering Old Man Winter, but it's a feeling that maybe, just maybe, the worst of winter is in the rearview mirror.

Is Spring Coming Early to Rochester? Tracking Minnesota’s Increasing Sunlight

While we don't know for sure if Mother Nature is planning more cold temperatures or snowstorms that dump several inches of snow on us yet this winter, we *do* know that the amount of sunshine each day is already increasing, making it seem a little more like spring.

And yes, Rochester and all of Minnesota has aleady gained a lot of sunshine so far this year. Since the winter solstice back on December 21, Rochester has gained about 76 more minutes of sunlight each day, according to data from sunrise-sunset.org.

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And that trend will continue, with the Land of 10,000 Lakes set to gain nearly another hour by the time February ends. Which means, by the time March rolls in, Rochester will be enjoying roughly two extra hours of daylight compared to the darkest days of December.

When Does Daylight Saving Time Start in Minnesota for 2026?

But, as we know, things really change when Daylight Saving Time kicks in. So, just when is that set to happen in Minnesota in 2026?

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You might have heard about a proposal that would have made Daylight Saving Time, where we move our clocks ahead one hour in the spring and then back again in the fall, permanent. USA Today says the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill (the Sunshine Protection Act) that would have done just that in 2022.

But that act didn't pass the U.S. House of Representatives and wasn't signed into law.  Meanwhile, President-elect Trump has favored eliminating Daylight Saving Time and said it's something he'd work on during his second term, though we haven't seen anything yet. To make it happen, Congress would need to introduce a new bill, which would then need to pass both the House and Senate before the incoming president could sign it into law-- something that's not all that likely to happen.

Spring Forward: The Exact Date Rochester Residents Need to Change Their Clocks

So for right now, we're still set to 'spring ahead' this March (and lose an hour of sleep) and 'fall back' again this November (when we get that hour back), just as we have every year since 1918, when Congress first adopted the Standard Time Act, which created Daylight Saving Time. Time And Date has this year's details:

Daylight Saving Time officially begins in Minnesota at 2:00:00 am on Sunday, March 8, 2026, when clocks move ahead one hour. Sunrise and sunset will be about 1 hour later on Mar 8, 2026 than the day before. There will be more light in the evening and less light in the morning.

We'll remain on Daylight Saving Time until Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 2:00:00 am, when clocks are turned backward one hour, and we revert to Daylight Standard Time, which will complete the 108th year we've made such a change.

Meanwhile, speaking of changes, keep scrolling to see how some familiar corporate logos have changed over the years, as well-- and see how many you can identify.