DaysUntilNowClock & calendar
Not holidays — artefacts. The days that exist because of how we keep time rather than what we celebrate.
Days until April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day falls on April 1 every year
Days until Daylight Saving Time Ends
In the US, Daylight Saving Time ends on the first Sunday of November — clocks fall back one hour
Days until Daylight Saving Time Starts
In the US, Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday of March — clocks spring forward one hour
Days until Friday the 13th
The next Friday the 13th depends on the calendar — every year has between one and three of them
Days until Leap Day
Leap Day, February 29, occurs every four years — next in 2028
Days until Pi Day
Pi Day falls on March 14 every year (3/14, like 3.14)
Days the calendar invented
Nobody decided to celebrate Friday the 13th, and no parliament voted for leap day. These dates exist because of the machinery of timekeeping itself — the mismatch between the earth’s orbit and a whole number of days, the decision to shift the clocks twice a year, the way a seven-day week slides across a month of thirty-one days.
They are still worth counting down to, and for more practical reasons than the holidays. A daylight saving change costs or gives you an hour of sleep and quietly breaks every recurring alarm you own. Leap day decides whether a February 29 birthday exists this year. And if you run anything on a schedule, the fortnight each spring and autumn when the US and Europe are an hour further apart than usual is the fortnight your calls land in the wrong slot.
Rules, not lists
Everything in this group is calculated from a rule rather than looked up in a table, and that is deliberate. A stored list of daylight saving dates would need maintaining every year and would silently run out; a rule keeps working. The rules themselves are short: the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November in the United States, the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October across the European Union and the United Kingdom. Leap years are every four years, except century years, except centuries divisible by four hundred.
The one thing a rule cannot survive is a change in the law, and here that is a live risk. The European Union has voted more than once to abolish the seasonal clock change without ever setting a date, and several US states have passed permanent-daylight-time bills that need federal approval to take effect. If either lands, the rules on this page change with it — which is why the source for each one is linked rather than paraphrased.
Frequently asked questions
When do the clocks change where I am?
In the United States, on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. In the European Union and the United Kingdom, on the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October. The two do not line up, so for a few weeks each spring and autumn the usual time difference between them is an hour out.
Why is there a leap day at all?
A year is about 365.2422 days. Adding a day every four years overcorrects slightly, so century years are skipped unless they divide by 400 — which is why 1900 was not a leap year and 2000 was. The next skipped one is 2100.
How often does Friday the 13th happen?
At least once a year and at most three times, depending on which day January 1 falls on and whether it is a leap year. The countdown always points at the next one.
How we calculate this
Sources: