With the long, harsh winter season now behind us, so are the shorter days which saw more darkness than daylight during the daytime hours over the past four months.

Although the official start of Spring season on the calendar is still a little over a week away, residents in Kentucky and much of the nation will get a week’s jump on more daylight hours when Daylight Saving Time officially begins a week ahead of spring.

Central Standard Time officially ends at 2 a.m. this Sunday morning, March 13 and will roll in about seven months of Daylight Saving Time, meaning an extra hour of daylight.

Readers are reminded to spring forward by setting their clocks and watches ahead by one hour before retiring Saturday night or first thing Sunday morning.

In addition to making the change to Daylight Saving Time Saturday night, officials with the Albany Fire Department have asked the Clinton County News to remind its readers of the importance of changing the batteries in smoke alarms every time the switch is made between time zones, ensuring that fresh batteries are always installed in the alarm devices.

While you have that smoke detector in your hand, it’s also a good time to check the expiration date that most modern smoke detectors now have imprinted on the inside to see if it might be time for a new unit altogether. If your detector does not have a date printed on it, chances are it was manufactured before expiration dates were imprinted inside, and should be replaced anyway.

Typically, smoke detectors have a life of 7-10 years.

The extension of Daylight Saving Time, which began several years ago, will remain in effect until November.

Change clocks, maintain smoke detectors this weekend