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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday October 29 2017, @05:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the far-east dept.

The Special Commission on the Commonwealth's Time Zone will vote on November 1st on a final draft of a report recommending that Massachusetts move to the Atlantic Time Zone from the Eastern Time Zone:

A commission is studying the possibility of having Massachusetts join the Atlantic Time Zone, putting it permanently an hour ahead of its current Eastern slot.

That would mean later sunsets in the colder months, and would put the state on a zonal par with the likes of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Bermuda rather than the rest of the eastern United States.

The 11-member commission submitted a draft report on the move in September, and will vote on a final one on November 1. If that gets a green-light, the recommendation will go to lawmakers—who may or may not pursue the move.

Maine and New Hampshire would likely join Massachusetts in switching to the Atlantic Time Zone.

2014 editorial on the benefits. Also at NBC.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Sunday October 29 2017, @11:10PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Sunday October 29 2017, @11:10PM (#589242)

    The Eastern Time Zone in the US is substantially larger east-west than the 15 degrees latitude that would match what the sun's doing. The effect of this is that, within the same time zone, sunrise/sunset can vary by about 90 minutes at roughly the same latitude. The Vermont-New York border is a good approximation of where the Atlantic-Eastern divide could reasonably go. As somebody who has lived in both the eastern and western portions of the zone, it definitely can get strange to have the sun setting really early in New England while rising fairly late in Ohio and Indiana.

    That said, there's really no way to prevent at least 1 of the daily rush hours from occurring in the dark, because there's just not enough sunlight in the winter. Indeed, it's not uncommon for *both* commutes to be in the dark, and if your office doesn't have a window you could go a couple of months without ever seeing the sun.

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