You know we’re heading towards decent weather when we go to daylight saving time, the last Sunday of September.

Don’t forget to put your clocks forward on Saturday night September 29 before bed, because at 2am Sunday, time will go forward an hour.

Cell phones and other connected devices will change automatically.

The Ōtaki Fire Brigade says it’s also a good time for people to check their smoke alarms and change the batteries.

The time change puts us officially on New Zealand daylight saving time, an hour ahead of New Zealand standard time.

We go back to standard time on Sunday morning April 7, 2019. Daylight saving was first introduced in New Zealand in 1927.

The current times – last Sunday of September to first Sunday of April – have been fixed since 2007.

For the data enthusiasts, here’s a timeline:

1868 — New Zealand officially set a national standard time, called New Zealand Mean Time, at 11 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

1927 — New Zealand first observed daylight saving time. The dates and time difference were changed several times during the following years.

1941 — New Zealand summer time was extended by emergency regulations in the Second World War to cover the whole year.

1946 — New Zealand summer time (12 hours in advance of GMT) was adopted as New Zealand standard time. Daylight saving time was effectively discontinued.

1974-75 — Daylight saving was trialled again in 1974, and introduced in 1975.

1985 — Public attitudes were surveyed and during the next few years the period of daylight saving time was extended twice.

2006-07 — After public debate and a petition presented to Parliament, the period of daylight saving was extended to its current dates.