When Do Idaho Clocks “Fall Back” in 2023? Sooner Than You Think

The post was shared over 1,000 times and more than 2,5000 people liked it so chances are, the depressing video showed up in your feed too. It was a “PSA” about how short the days in Boise are getting as we continue marching through fall. 

This Is Boise’s Instagram Reel said “PSA: The sun officially won't set after 7:30 p.m. in Boise until March 2024.” The caption asked “Who’s excited for shorter days ahead? If you haven’t seen the post yourself, spoiler alert…the answer was close to no one. It solicited a lot of comments like:

• “This is the opposite of motivating.” 
• “Thanks for ruining my day! Not ready!” 
• “Back to my depressed era.”

We know all those comments were in good fun, but there’s a lot of truth to that post. Boise’s losing sunlight at a rate of almost three minutes a day. By Halloween night, the sun sets at 6:37 p.m. It’s all building toward that twice-a-year ritual of adjusting our clocks by an hour.

Weren’t We Getting Rid of the Time Change?

It’s a good question! There was a lot of buzz about doing away with changing the clocks after the United States Senate approved the stop. However, the measure hasn’t passed the House of Representatives. That means that for now, there’s a federal law that prohibits states from staying in Daylight Saving Time permanently, even if they’ve discussed the change at a state level. Hawaii and Arizona don’t take part in the time-hopping tradition, but both of those states are on permanent Standard Time. 

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Idaho lawmakers have discussed making daylight saving time permanent in the part of the state that’s in the Pacific time zone. If the federal law does change and Washington state decides to stay in daylight saving time permanently, that part of Northern Idaho will make the change too.

What Would Permanent Daylight Saving Time Look Like in the Boise Area?

If you’re someone who despises driving to work in the dark AND home from work in the dark, during Standard Time you’d probably be a fan of permanent Daylight Saving. If things stay the way they are, sunset can be as early as 5:09 p.m. during Standard Time. Under permanent Daylight Saving Time, the sun wouldn’t set any earlier than 6:09 p.m. in early December.

Now, there’s a trade-off. The way things are right now, the latest sunrise in the Boise area is around 8:18 a.m. If we moved to permanent Daylight Saving Time, that means sunrise wouldn’t happen until 9:18 a.m. on some days in January. 

Supporters of “saving standard time” say that permanent Daylight Saving Time would force millions of Americans to start work before sunrise, but 54.1% of Boise residents already start their morning commute to work before 8 a.m. Only 19.7% of residents say they start their commute between 8-9 a.m. 

It would be more of a concern when it comes to students being out in the dark. If you look at the bell schedules for Boise, West Ada, Nampa and Caldwell schools, the average school start time is 8:16. If Daylight Saving Time was made permanent, kids would be starting school before sunrise from late October to mid-March. The way things are right now, sunrise only happens before 8:16 a.m. for a handful of days in late October/early November and after Winter Break-mid January.  

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Of course, these details only apply to the Boise area. Sunrise/sunset/commute times/school start times vary from place to place in the state. You can check out a calculator to figure out what these scenarios look like in your part of the state by clicking HERE. 

When Will Daylight Saving Time End in Idaho?

Since lawmakers haven’t made a decision about eliminating the time change completely, Idahoans should prepare to set their clocks back an hour beginning on Sunday, November 5 at 2 a.m. It's a bit of a bummer to think about because as of the day we're writing this article, Boise's sunset will take place at 8:49 p.m. It happens at 5:30 p.m. after the time change and the days will continue to get shorter until the Winter Solstice in December. 

If you're like this author and have astigmatism, you know it's truly the worst time because if you plan on leaving the house after work...this is what it looks like, even when there's no rain and you have a clean windshield!