It that time again.

You know the sayings describing the twice annual time changes: “Spring forward” and “Fall back.” This is the weekend we “spring forward” and say goodbye to Central Standard Time (CST) for another half year! Not til the first Sunday in November will it return.

The period of daylight continues its seasonal expansion across the Northern Hemisphere. We’ll pick another 2 minutes and 48 seconds today (compared to yesterday/Monday) and see the hours of daylight grow by another 71 minutes by this month’s close.

But for many, what happens this weekend–the second weekend in March –is cause for celebration and the realization the slow transition to the warm season is indeed underway. This weekend, we turn the clocks ahead. For most, this takes place before turning in Saturday night. The ritual marks the return to daylight saving time.

While many see the change as producing an hour’s loss of sleep, many celebrate the fact sunset shifts to later hour—effectively adding sun to the back end of most folks days.

The time change has a noticeable effect on both sunrise and sunset. The sun sets Tuesday night (tonight) here in Chicago at 5:47 p.m. and will set on the eve of the time change at 5:52 p.m. Saturday night. But after setting the clocks forward Sat night/Sun morning, the sun will set Sunday night at 6:55 p.m. And by the close of March on the 31st, the sun will set at 7:14 p.m.

Our latest Chicago sunsets will occur from June 21 through July 3 when the sun sets at 8:29 p.m.