Time zones

[Poiponen13]

What changes should be made to time zones? At least Spain and Iceland are "wrong" time zone, and in North America, all time zones could shift eastwards. This means that Vancouver would be in Alaska Time Zone (UTC -9) and most of Alaska would be in Hawaiian Time Zone (UTC-10) and Hawaii and westernmost Alaska would be in UTC-11. Additionally, all Aleutian Islands west on 180th meridian would be in UTC-12.

[oscar]

See https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=25894.0 and https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=17449. for some previous time zones discussions.

[Bruce]

Just need permanent Daylight Savings Time (aka no switch) like several states have already approved. Will gladly sacrifice the chance of pre-commute morning daylight for more guaranteed usable hours of sunlight in the afternoon.

[Rothman]

Just need permanent Daylight Savings Time (aka no switch) like several states have already approved. Will gladly sacrifice the chance of pre-commute morning daylight for more guaranteed usable hours of sunlight in the afternoon.

Somebody said the magic words.

Ruh roh.

[hotdogPi]

Since the OP is new: discussion about DST is banned. Other discussion about moving time zones, such as your OP, is in a gray area.

[webny99]

I don't think it's permanently banned; more like temporarily banned as soon as it becomes too repetitive. Unfortunately, it always becomes too repetitive, and it's hard to see that changing.

(I think it's totally absurd that the latest sunrise of the year is in early November, but otherwise don't have a strong opinion on it.)

[NWI_Irish96]

I think every location's time zone should be the one that makes their sunrise between 7:00 and 8:00 on December 21.

[Max Rockatansky]

Which is most taboo topic on the history of the forum?

-  Daylight Savings Time
-  COVID-19
-  Alanland
-  The Hypotenuse
-  Flat Illinois

[hotdogPi]

Which is most taboo topic on the history of the forum?

-  Daylight Savings Time
-  COVID-19
-  Alanland
-  The Hypotenuse
-  Flat Illinois

One of the first two. We joke about the other three, while the first two are frowned upon to even mention. I would go with the first over the second; for COVID-19, it's only policy debate that results in issues, not "here's what I did in 2020 because of the pandemic", "I have COVID-19", or other personal stuff.

[kphoger]

Part of the USA would be on Atlantic Time.  But I'm not sure where to draw the line.

[mgk920]

Just go to Worldwide UTC/zulu and adjust your own schedules acccordingly.

Mike

[hbelkins]

Just need permanent Daylight Savings Time (aka no switch) like several states have already approved. Will gladly sacrifice the chance of pre-commute morning daylight for more guaranteed usable hours of sunlight in the afternoon.

Amen!

And anyone who suggests that my area of Kentucky needs to be in the Central Time Zone needs to be flogged. Living on the eastern edge of Central Time during the standard time months would be awful. Sunset would be between 4:30 and 5 p.m., generally.

It's a little after 8 p.m. as I type this. Feels like it's 11 p.m. In two weeks it'll be shortly after 7 p.m. and it will feel like 11.

[jgb191]

I don't know why Texas is disproportionately in the Central Time Zone; not enough is in the Mountain Time Zone.  Move the time line farther east.

[Road Hog]

I don't know why Texas is disproportionately in the Central Time Zone; not enough is in the Mountain Time Zone.  Move the time line farther east.

Easy answer: The Central part of Texas likes later sunsets and doesn't mind if it's a little dark in the morning.

[texaskdog]

Just need permanent Daylight Savings Time (aka no switch) like several states have already approved. Will gladly sacrifice the chance of pre-commute morning daylight for more guaranteed usable hours of sunlight in the afternoon.

EXACTLY!

[jgb191]

I don't know why Texas is disproportionately in the Central Time Zone; not enough is in the Mountain Time Zone.  Move the time line farther east.

Easy answer: The Central part of Texas likes later sunsets and doesn't mind if it's a little dark in the morning.

Yeah keep all the counties east of the US-83/US-277 corridor the way it is.  Move the time line east of the Texas Panhandle along with the Oklahoma border and continuing south from there.  This means the time line should be straddling near the towns like Childress, Guthrie, and Aspermont, Ballinger, Menard, Junction, Uvalde, and so on.

El Paso could use some much-needed company in the Mountain Time Zone:  Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, San Angelo, (and maybe even Abilene).

[brad2971]

I don't know why Texas is disproportionately in the Central Time Zone; not enough is in the Mountain Time Zone.  Move the time line farther east.

Easy answer: The Central part of Texas likes later sunsets and doesn't mind if it's a little dark in the morning.

Yeah keep all the counties east of the US-83/US-277 corridor the way it is.  Move the time line east of the Texas Panhandle along with the Oklahoma border and continuing south from there.  This means the time line should be straddling near the towns like Childress, Guthrie, and Aspermont, Ballinger, Menard, Junction, Uvalde, and so on.

El Paso could use some much-needed company in the Mountain Time Zone:  Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, San Angelo, (and maybe even Abilene).

El Paso is much more likely to be switched over to Central Time Zone, especially considering Juarez, right across the Rio Grande, is in CTZ.

[1995hoo]

I don't know why Texas is disproportionately in the Central Time Zone; not enough is in the Mountain Time Zone.  Move the time line farther east.

Easy answer: The Central part of Texas likes later sunsets and doesn't mind if it's a little dark in the morning.

Yeah keep all the counties east of the US-83/US-277 corridor the way it is.  Move the time line east of the Texas Panhandle along with the Oklahoma border and continuing south from there.  This means the time line should be straddling near the towns like Childress, Guthrie, and Aspermont, Ballinger, Menard, Junction, Uvalde, and so on.

El Paso could use some much-needed company in the Mountain Time Zone:  Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, San Angelo, (and maybe even Abilene).

El Paso is much more likely to be switched over to Central Time Zone, especially considering Juarez, right across the Rio Grande, is in CTZ.

That prompts me to wonder, as a general question, how many places there are that de facto operate on a different time zone than where they're actually located. I recall about 25 years ago, when I was working in Montgomery, Alabama, I had to drive out to Phenix City for something and I found that pretty much everything there, with the exception of state and federal government facilities (courthouse, post office, etc.), operated on Eastern Time, despite being located in the Central Time Zone, because it was more convenient to be in sync with the much larger city of Columbus, Georgia, located just across the river (and to which many Phenix City residents routinely travelled for things like buying cheaper gas–which I did too while I was there).

I'm sure there must be other places that function similarly for practical reasons. I would expect that Hyder, Alaska, would likely be an example of this sort of thing (again, presumably excepting any government offices).

[oscar]

I'm sure there must be other places that function similarly for practical reasons. I would expect that Hyder, Alaska, would likely be an example of this sort of thing (again, presumably excepting any government offices).

When I visited Hyder AK in 1994, it much more extremely followed neighboring Stewart BC. Except for the Hyder post office, it used Canadian money. Its phones were in BC's area code rather than Alaska's. Its residents on Medicare got a waiver to use Canadian doctors and hospitals, since it was so difficult for Hyder residents to get their care from U.S. providers in Ketchikan. There weren't even any border checkpoints back then (now there are on the Canadian side of the border, but still none on the U.S. side). Time was among the least of Hyder's anomalies.

[NWI_Irish96]

I don't know why Texas is disproportionately in the Central Time Zone; not enough is in the Mountain Time Zone.  Move the time line farther east.

Easy answer: The Central part of Texas likes later sunsets and doesn't mind if it's a little dark in the morning.

Yeah keep all the counties east of the US-83/US-277 corridor the way it is.  Move the time line east of the Texas Panhandle along with the Oklahoma border and continuing south from there.  This means the time line should be straddling near the towns like Childress, Guthrie, and Aspermont, Ballinger, Menard, Junction, Uvalde, and so on.

El Paso could use some much-needed company in the Mountain Time Zone:  Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, San Angelo, (and maybe even Abilene).

El Paso is much more likely to be switched over to Central Time Zone, especially considering Juarez, right across the Rio Grande, is in CTZ.

That prompts me to wonder, as a general question, how many places there are that de facto operate on a different time zone than where they're actually located.

Near me there is a school district that straddles LaPorte (Central) and St Joseph (Eastern) counties. The high school, middle school and all but one of the elementary schools in the district are physically in LaPorte County and operate on Central Time. New Carlisle is the principal town on the St Joseph side of the district, and while the town and the elementary school officially operate on Eastern Time, because all the middle school and high school kids and teachers are essentially living on Central Time, business hours get adjusted and many places have clocks showing both times.

[GaryV]

Porcupine Mountains State Park in MI is in both Eastern and Central TZ. There are signs that say the whole park follows Eastern Time.

Bark River - Harris School District in the UP is mostly in CST but observes EST - it is mentioned on the district's website home page.

[royo6022]

Just need permanent Daylight Savings Time (aka no switch) like several states have already approved. Will gladly sacrifice the chance of pre-commute morning daylight for more guaranteed usable hours of sunlight in the afternoon.

Amen!

And anyone who suggests that my area of Kentucky needs to be in the Central Time Zone needs to be flogged. Living on the eastern edge of Central Time during the standard time months would be awful. Sunset would be between 4:30 and 5 p.m., generally.

It's a little after 8 p.m. as I type this. Feels like it's 11 p.m. In two weeks it'll be shortly after 7 p.m. and it will feel like 11.

In the winter evenings it sucks but as someone who has to wake up pretty early in the morning it's a heck of a lot easier to do that on Central time because it's actually light out.

[kphoger]

El Paso is much more likely to be switched over to Central Time Zone, especially considering Juarez, right across the Rio Grande, is in CTZ.

No it isn't, and it hasn't been for 24 years now.  The entire state of Chihuahua has been in the Zona Pacífico since 1998, which corresponds to the US Mountain Time Zone.  Furthermore, being within the border zone, the municipio of Juárez has operated on the same (new) DST schedule as does the USA since 2009.  Therefore, it is always the same time in Ciudad Juárez as it is in El Paso and has been for the last 13 years.

[NWI_Irish96]

Just need permanent Daylight Savings Time (aka no switch) like several states have already approved. Will gladly sacrifice the chance of pre-commute morning daylight for more guaranteed usable hours of sunlight in the afternoon.

Amen!

And anyone who suggests that my area of Kentucky needs to be in the Central Time Zone needs to be flogged. Living on the eastern edge of Central Time during the standard time months would be awful. Sunset would be between 4:30 and 5 p.m., generally.

It's a little after 8 p.m. as I type this. Feels like it's 11 p.m. In two weeks it'll be shortly after 7 p.m. and it will feel like 11.

In the winter evenings it sucks but as someone who has to wake up pretty early in the morning it's a heck of a lot easier to do that on Central time because it's actually light out.

That's why I suggested using the December 21 sunrise as a guide. Get the latest possible sunset you can without pushing sunrise past 8am.

[Life in Paradise]

I am surprised (not really) that this is still an issue where the states and localities have more say than other issues.  One could make an argument that time zones affect interstate commerce, and the federal government usually enters in where interstate commerce is involved.  Some bureaucrat or legislative body could determine the exact lines of the time zones for US so that they are more appropriately representative.  I know that is a ticking time bomb for someone.  Perhaps we should turn that over to a legislative body, and they could have have arguments and debates about it for months or maybe years, therefore we could avoid legislation that might not be wanted anyway.