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I found out that the solar time is off because Indiana, Michigan, Western Ohio and Louisville, KY is using the wrong time zone (Eastern Time), so the solar noon doesn't occur at 12:00 PM, but instead 1:00 PM, but I want to know what's the opinion of the people from the eastern half of the Midwest would think about if IN, MI, West OH and Louisville, KY moves to Central Time in order to correct the time cycle. There's even a group that wants Indiana to move back to Central Time.
Here's the map on how the time zones should look:
Do you like it better than the current time zone that we have right now?
Looks like Columbus would be switched to central time under your suggestion. I don't have a huge preference but it's nice being on EST since that's what most major television events seem to be based off of.
I found out that the solar time is off because Indiana, Michigan, Western Ohio and Louisville, KY is using the wrong time zone (Eastern Time), so the solar noon doesn't occur at 12:00 PM, but instead 1:00 PM, but I want to know what's the opinion of the people from the eastern half of the Midwest would think about if IN, MI, West OH and Louisville, KY moves to Central Time in order to correct the time cycle. There's even a group that wants Indiana to move back to Central Time.
Do you like it better than the current time zone that we have right now?
I'm not sure why you're only pointing out those places. Detroit is 90 miles geographically east of Atlanta, and if downtown Cleveland were moved due south it would almost sit on top of downtown Jacksonville. This thread should be titled differently since your misstating the problem. According to your theory not ONLY those places should be in central.
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Originally Posted by muppethammer26
I found out that the solar time is off because Indiana, Michigan, Western Ohio and Louisville, KY is using the wrong time zone (Eastern Time), so the solar noon doesn't occur at 12:00 PM, but instead 1:00 PM, but I want to know what's the opinion of the people from the eastern half of the Midwest would think about if IN, MI, West OH and Louisville, KY moves to Central Time in order to correct the time cycle. There's even a group that wants Indiana to move back to Central Time.
Here's the map on how the time zones should look:
Do you like it better than the current time zone that we have right now?
See my time zone thread, there is an image of what I thought we should go to.
But here were my proposed timezones for the lower 48:
First note, would have AZ observe DST
Atlantic Time (-4/-3): Maine
Eastern Time (-5/-4): Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida [east of Appilachicola River], Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia
Central Time (-6/-5): Alabama, Arkansas, Florida [west of Appilachicola River], Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas [east of US 83], Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska [east of US 83], North Dakota [east of US 83], Ohio, Oklahoma [east of US 83], South Dakota [east of US 83], Tennessee, Texas [east of US 83 from Laredo northward, plus all of Brooks Co, Cameron Co, Hidalgo Co, Jim Hogg Co, Kennedy Co, Starr Co, Willacy Co, and Zapata Co], Wisconsin
Mountain Time (-7/-6): Arizona [only territory within Navajo and Hopi Reservations plus the City of Page], Colorado, Kansas [US 83 westward], Montana [east of the Continental Divide], Nebraska [US 83 westward], New Mexico, North Dakota [US 83 westward], Oklahoma [US 83 westward], South Dakota [US 83 westward], Texas [US 83 westward from Laredo on north, none of Brooks Co, Cameron Co, Hidalgo Co, Jim Hogg Co, Kennedy Co, Starr Co, Willacy Co and Zapata Co], Utah [east of the Wasatch range], Wyoming
Pacific Time (-8/-7): Arizona [whole state except for the City of Page and except for territory within Navajo and Hopi Reservations], California, Idaho, Montana [west of the Continental Divide], Nevada, Oregon, Utah [west of the Wasatch range, including St George, Cedar City, Provo, Salt Lake City and Ogden], Washington
I like being in the Eastern Time Zone and having it be light out until close to 10 PM in mid June, I can get a lot of yard work done after work.
I will agree that downeast Maine should be in the Atlantic Time Zone because the sun sets there at 3:45 PM in December and I really hated that when I was a kid.
All I know is that it is painful to be on Eastern time in Delta Co. Michigan. We're due north of Chicago and other parts of the UP are on Eastern time are still farther west! The time zone changes roughly 15 miles west of Escanaba. The counties south and west are on different times. I could drive across the entire Central time zone and be well into Mountain time before I could drive all the way across the Eastern time zone (as the crow flies).
I think what we need to do more than changing the time zone boundaries is to trim back the amount of time we're on DST. In most areas of the U.S. the latest sunrise of the year (which is often the deciding factor for school start times, etc. due to safety reasons) is not shortly after the winter solstice as it would naturally be* but in late October/early November before we "fall back" (and in some places the sunrise right after we "spring forward" in March is later than the natural latest sunrise as well).
If it were up to me I'd move the fall back date to the third (or next-to-last) Sunday of October - which I think would be a good compromise between the late sunrise factor I described, those who want the lighter evenings of DST continuing for awhile into the autumn, and those concerned about Halloween safety. The concern with the latter was that with old last Sunday of October "fall back" date trick-or-treating would often come right after the time change when people might not be used to driving in darkness at a particular time, and delaying the time change a week helped that issue; unfortunately it made the late sunrise issue (which already applied in some areas with the old date) even worse. Moving the date so there is at least a full week for people to acclimate to the earlier sunset would probably work just as well (especially that from my own experience many just started waiting until later to trick-or-treat with the later sunset). For those who vouch for a weekend Election Day, and the issue of clocks changing on said weekend, the earlier fall time change renders those issues moot as well.
In the spring I'd delay the time change until after the equinox - either the fourth or last Sunday of March (but not into April like it used to be).
*It's not exactly at the winter solstice due to the "equation of time" (which you can search the Internet for if you want to learn more), which puts the earliest sunset of the year a couple of weeks or so (depending on your latitude) before the solstice and likewise with the latest sunrise after. This factor is also why DST can be observed longer after the autumnal equinox than start before the vernal equinox without late sunrises being an issue.
Indiana's timezones are rather ridiculous. You have northwest Indiana in the central time zone (presumably in order to be in the same timezone as Chicago), and then southwest Indiana in the central timezone as well. Central Indiana along its border with Illinois in between those two timezones is in the eastern timezone though. That makes little sense to me.
If it were up to me I'd move the fall back date to the third (or next-to-last) Sunday of October - which I think would be a good compromise between the late sunrise factor I described, those who want the lighter evenings of DST continuing for awhile into the autumn, and those concerned about Halloween safety. The concern with the latter was that with old last Sunday of October "fall back" date trick-or-treating would often come right after the time change when people might not be used to driving in darkness at a particular time, and delaying the time change a week helped that issue; unfortunately it made the late sunrise issue (which already applied in some areas with the old date) even worse. Moving the date so there is at least a full week for people to acclimate to the earlier sunset would probably work just as well (especially that from my own experience many just started waiting until later to trick-or-treat with the later sunset). For those who vouch for a weekend Election Day, and the issue of clocks changing on said weekend, the earlier fall time change renders those issues moot as well.
In the spring I'd delay the time change until after the equinox - either the fourth or last Sunday of March (but not into April like it used to be).
Even that's not enough. "Standard time" should actually be the standard for the majority of the year. Move the clocks forward the weekend before Memorial Day weekend, and move the clocks back the weekend after Labor Day weekend. That way, standard time will be in effect for 36 weeks, and daylight saving time for 16 weeks, as opposed to the absurd arrangement we have now, with 21 weeks of standard time and 31 weeks of daylight saving time.
On my revised schedule, everybody can still have their 9PM sunsets during the late spring and summer, but won't move forward until we're actually close to summer, and will move back as soon as possible once summer is over.
No, it will not get dark at 6PM in mid-May or mid-September during standard time, but rather at 8PM in mid-May, and 7PM in mid-September. Solar spring begins on February 5, solar summer on May 5, and solar autumn on August 5, so the sun will set later and later during the spring even if it's still standard time, and the weekend before Memorial Day weekend occurs about two weeks after the start of solar summer, which are the longest days of the year.
The weekend after Labor Day weekend occurs near the middle of solar autumn, so the sun will begin to set earlier and earlier even while daylight saving time is in effect. By mid-September, the summer travel season will be over, and most farms will have had their harvest, so there's really no point in saving an hour of sunlight by then. Furthermore, football season will be in full swing, so an earlier sunset reduces the risk of heat exhaustion during high school and prime-time college and NFL games early in the season.
Lastly, solar winter begins on November 5, so it seems kind of pointless to keep daylight saving time going until then, because there's really not much daylight to save in October, or even in late September, for that matter.
I found out that the solar time is off because Indiana, Michigan, Western Ohio and Louisville, KY is using the wrong time zone (Eastern Time), so the solar noon doesn't occur at 12:00 PM, but instead 1:00 PM, but I want to know what's the opinion of the people from the eastern half of the Midwest would think about if IN, MI, West OH and Louisville, KY moves to Central Time in order to correct the time cycle. There's even a group that wants Indiana to move back to Central Time.
Here's the map on how the time zones should look:
Do you like it better than the current time zone that we have right now?
Most of Texas should be in Central Time zone. On your map, you split up the Metroplex. Don't see why.
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