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Old 07-21-2016, 11:31 AM
 
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,430,196 times
Reputation: 9169

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The current timezone boundaries don't make sense in certain places, like Indiana being in Eastern Time (except the NW and SW corners, and Idaho south of the Salmon River being in Mountain Time (which leads to almost 10pm sunsets in June).

Here are my proposed reshufflings...

Maine should be moved to Atlantic Time (1 hr later than Eastern Time)

Ohio, as well as all of MI, IN, KY and TN should me moved to Central Time

US Highway 83 should be the boundary between Central and Mountain Time, current boundary is too far west, especially in Texas.

All of Oregon and Idaho, Utah west of the Wasatch Mountains, the small part of Montana west of the Continental Divide, and Arizona except the Navajo Reservation should be moved to Pacific Time (due to not observing DST, Arizona minus Navajo Res is already defacto in Pacific Time from Mar-Oct).

So here would be the new time zones:

Atlantic Time (GMT -4/-3): Maine

Eastern Time (GMT -5/-4): CT,DE,FL east of Appilachicola
River, GA, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, PA, RI, SC, VT, VA, WV

Central Time (GMT -6/-5): AL, AR, FL west of
Appilachicola River, IL, IN, IA, KS east of US 83, KY, LA,
MI, MN, MS, MO, NE east of US 83, ND east of US 83, OH,
OK east of US 83, SD east of US 83, TN, TX east of US 83,
WI

Mountain Time (GMT -7/-6): AZ (Navajo Res only), CO, KS
west of US 83, MT east of Continental Divide, NE west of
US 83, NM, ND west of US 83, OK west of US 83, SD west
of US 83, TX west of US 83, UT east of the Wasatch Mts,
WY

Pacific Time (GMT -8/-7): AZ (outside Navajo Res), CA, ID,
MT west of the Continental Divide, NV, OR, UT west of
the Wasatch Mts, WA

Thoughts?

Note: in this scheme, AZ WOULD observe Daylight Time, so time in non Navajo AZ would be unchanged from current scheme during DST portion of year
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Old 07-21-2016, 11:45 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,147,178 times
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The issue "What Time is it in Indiana?" has been around for a long time. (No pun intended) As I've looked into it, most of the state wants to be on Eastern Time, the Chicago suburbs want to be on Central, as a lot of the residents there work in Illinois.
The Indiana Law Blog: Indiana Law - What Time is it in Indiana?

That said, let's go east to west here:

Maine should stay in Eastern time. There's no reason for one state in the US to be on a different time zone than all the others. Remember, these are political boundaries, not scientific.

Ohio is pretty far east for central time. I already explained Indiana. I think there would be a revolt in Michigan if moved to central.

I can't speak for the Texas issue; I have little experience there.

Do these parts of Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Montana want to change time zones?
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Old 07-21-2016, 11:52 AM
 
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,430,196 times
Reputation: 9169
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt View Post
The issue "What Time is it in Indiana?" has been around for a long time. (No pun intended) As I've looked into it, most of the state wants to be on Eastern Time, the Chicago suburbs want to be on Central, as a lot of the residents there work in Illinois.
The Indiana Law Blog: Indiana Law - What Time is it in Indiana?

That said, let's go east to west here:

Maine should stay in Eastern time. There's no reason for one state in the US to be on a different time zone than all the others. Remember, these are political boundaries, not scientific.

Ohio is pretty far east for central time. I already explained Indiana. I think there would be a revolt in Michigan if moved to central.

I can't speak for the Texas issue; I have little experience there.

Do these parts of Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Montana want to change time zones?
I'm looking at lines that would be closest to where the actual boundaries should be without making too many political disruptions.

Eastern Time "should" range from 67.5 to 82.5 W
Central Time "should" range from 82.5 to 97.5 W
Mountain Time "should" range from 97.5 to 112.5 W
Pacific Time "should" range from 112.5 to 127.5 W

Those would be the boundaries if not for economical or business considerations. The one change that NEEDS to happen is AZ (minus the Navajo Res of course) switching to Pacific Time and adapoting daylight savings time. This would satisfy all requirements. So much business is conducted between Phoenix and both Las Vegas and more importantly Los Angeles, and having a different time zone from Nov-Feb is really disruptive, especially to logistics between the two (freight/trucking)
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Old 07-21-2016, 11:56 AM
 
Location: Louisville
5,245 posts, read 5,953,452 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt View Post
The issue "What Time is it in Indiana?" has been around for a long time. (No pun intended) As I've looked into it, most of the state wants to be on Eastern Time, the Chicago suburbs want to be on Central, as a lot of the residents there work in Illinois.
The Indiana Law Blog: Indiana Law - What Time is it in Indiana?

That said, let's go east to west here:

Maine should stay in Eastern time. There's no reason for one state in the US to be on a different time zone than all the others. Remember, these are political boundaries, not scientific.

Ohio is pretty far east for central time. I already explained Indiana. I think there would be a revolt in Michigan if moved to central.

I can't speak for the Texas issue; I have little experience there.

Do these parts of Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Montana want to change time zones?
Keep in Mind too that Detroit Michigan is actually Geographically east of Atlanta. So parts of Ohio would pretty much be in the Atlantic if you were to shift it straight south. I don't think it would make sense to put it in central. Looking straight on at a paper map doesn't always give the correct impression.
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Old 07-21-2016, 12:02 PM
 
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,430,196 times
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My thinking for moving Ohio, and all of IN, MI, TN and KY to Central Time was due to being west of the Appalachians, Atlanta and almost all of GA for that matter are east of the Appalachians
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Old 07-21-2016, 12:20 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,147,178 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220 View Post
My thinking for moving Ohio, and all of IN, MI, TN and KY to Central Time was due to being west of the Appalachians, Atlanta and almost all of GA for that matter are east of the Appalachians
I will never find this again in a million years, but when looking into the Indiana situation, I read that no county in IN that is in the eastern time zone has ever asked to be moved to central. See this, from a little over a year ago: Central Time Coalition tries to revive time debate | WISH-TV

As someone pointed out, Detroit is east of Atlanta, and it's the largest city in Michigan.
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Old 07-21-2016, 05:18 PM
 
Location: Research Triangle Area, NC
6,310 posts, read 5,396,767 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220 View Post
My thinking for moving Ohio, and all of IN, MI, TN and KY to Central Time was due to being west of the Appalachians, Atlanta and almost all of GA for that matter are east of the Appalachians
Atlanta is technically IN the Appalachian foothills; so not east or west of it. Also the Appalachians and the Atlantic coastline have a pretty significant NE to SW orientation; they aren't a straight north to south dividing line like you seem to be picturing.

You seem to be stuck on this abstract concept of timezones as being more geographical in nature than they really are. Timezones aren't dictated by how far removed they are from specific geographic features (oceans, rivers, mountain ranges etc) they are much more based on economics/commerce and latitude. Ohio may be a little further from the ocean as the crow flies than Georgia; but most of that state lies further east in latitude than most of the state of Georgia does. That is what timezones are drawn from; not how far away they are from the Atlantic coastline. Most of the Pacific coastline in South America is in the same timezone as the east coast of the US because of how much further East the South American landmass is than the North American landmass.
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Old 07-21-2016, 05:44 PM
 
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,430,196 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TarHeelNick View Post
Atlanta is technically IN the Appalachian foothills; so not east or west of it. Also the Appalachians and the Atlantic coastline have a pretty significant NE to SW orientation; they aren't a straight north to south dividing line like you seem to be picturing.

You seem to be stuck on this abstract concept of timezones as being more geographical in nature than they really are. Timezones aren't dictated by how far removed they are from specific geographic features (oceans, rivers, mountain ranges etc) they are much more based on economics/commerce and latitude. Ohio may be a little further from the ocean as the crow flies than Georgia; but most of that state lies further east in latitude than most of the state of Georgia does. That is what timezones are drawn from; not how far away they are from the Atlantic coastline. Most of the Pacific coastline in South America is in the same timezone as the east coast of the US because of how much further East the South American landmass is than the North American landmass.
You meant longitude, and as I said, I took longitude as well as economic ties into consideration. I still think it's stupid for a place at 90°W (far west Indiana) to be in Eastern Time when 90 is supposed to be the geographic CENTER of Central Time. Same deal with Ontario, OR being in Mountain Time when they are farther west than a good chunk of CA&NV
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Old 07-21-2016, 06:22 PM
 
Location: Research Triangle Area, NC
6,310 posts, read 5,396,767 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220 View Post
You meant longitude, and as I said, I took longitude as well as economic ties into consideration. I still think it's stupid for a place at 90°W (far west Indiana) to be in Eastern Time when 90 is supposed to be the geographic CENTER of Central Time. Same deal with Ontario, OR being in Mountain Time when they are farther west than a good chunk of CA&NV
You are correct I meant longitude; either way I'm not arguing that there are parts of timezones that don't make sense....just that some of the changes you'd like to see based on some the reasons you've stated aren't very logical.
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Old 07-21-2016, 06:40 PM
 
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,430,196 times
Reputation: 9169
Quote:
Originally Posted by TarHeelNick View Post
You are correct I meant longitude; either way I'm not arguing that there are parts of timezones that don't make sense....just that some of the changes you'd like to see based on some the reasons you've stated aren't very logical.
You have to admit the AZ change from Mountain to Pacific should happen, due to no DST currently, we are already in Pacific from Mar ti Oct de facto. And Phoenix is economically linked to LA and Vegas much more than Salt Lake or Denver
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