[313 TUxedo]

Could Maine become New New Brunswick? LOL

[Timetrav]

it is weird chattnooga is eastern but huntsville is central.

[White Wine]

Originally Posted by Timetrav

it is weird chattnooga is eastern but huntsville is central.

Yeah, I spent 5 years living in Huntsville and I never could remember which time zone Nashville or Chattanooga was in.

At first I thought the shift to Eastern time zone was a dumb idea, but the more I think about it, the more I kind of like it (I'm a Birmingham native, by the way).

Indiana and Michigan are due north of Alabama, but mostly located in Eastern Time. Never thought about it, but that alone should be justification for us to switch over. And throw in Middle Tennessee while you're at it - if we go Eastern, so should Nashville. It's equally strange that Louisville and Nashville are in different time zones - they're at the same longitude and only a couple of hours away from each other.

A shift in the time zones would get rid of that whole problem with Russell and Chambers county down around Columbus, GA, but to be fair it could potentially create another one down south around Mobile (how many people from Mississippi commute to Mobile County every day for work? I have no idea). But in general, yes the Alabama/Mississippi line is more thinly populated than the Alabama/Georgia line. Someone also mentioned that if all of Alabama went Eastern, all of Florida would as well, creating one time zone for that state. Yep, count me as a yes.

Yes, the darkness in the morning commute hours in the late fall / early winter would suck (I live in a place now where the sun doesn't come up until 7:30 or 8:00 AM during those months, so I feel your pain), but the sun would stay out til 9:00 PM (or later) in the summer! To me, that'd be worth it. It's much better, in my opinion, to be on the far western edge of your time zone than the far eastern edge (as is the case with Alabama). I love seeing the sun stay out late on those lazy, summer evenings.

I agree with whoever said that the sun sets too early in Alabama. It's something I didn't realize until I started traveling - in practically every other place I've been to in the U.S., the sun sets no earlier than 8:30 PM or so around the summer solstice. The best we can do is a sunset right at 8:00 PM in Alabama. Alabama in the summer is hot and dark.

I also agree that Daylight Savings time should not start as early (or end as late) as it does. I think a start date in April or May is fine, but it should end around September or early October.

[ttownfeen]

Let's just get rid of DST all together. No need for it; we're a 24 hour society now.

[deespoohbear]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

On a related note, Daylight Saving time should begin in May, the weekend before Memorial Day weekend, and end in September, the weekend after Labor Day weekend. That way, the United States will observe Standard Time for more than four months of the year.




OK, I forgot about those four counties. They can stay in Central time; the rest of Indiana belongs in Eastern time.

Why would SW Indiana want to be on Eastern time? Posey county is further west than Lake and Porter. Indiana needs to be in the Central Time Zone. Near Ft. Wayne in the summer it is daylight till almost 10 pm. In the winter it is dark until after 8 am. Totally messed up!

(I am a life long Hoosier too. Grew up in SW Indiana and moved to the NE part of the state when I got married).

[divisionbyzero0]

No. Dont be like Indiana with serious school delay and dark morning accident in the winter because of late winter sunrise

[Hamtonfordbury]

An extra hour nighttime daylight might be nice, but the dark mornings?

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Does it seem kind of ridiculous to anybody else that you can drive I-20 from Birmingham all the way to its western terminus at I-10 in the west Texas desert without crossing into a different time zone? Does it also seem a bit odd that Phenix City is in a different time zone than Columbus, GA right across the river? Or how about being able to change time zones in southern Indiana by driving north or south?

Every time zone is supposed to be approximately 15° of longitude (360/24 = 15), and the closest line of longitude that's a multiple of 15 is 90°W, which passes well to the west of the Alabama/Georgia line. In fact, it passes west of the Alabama/Mississippi line as well, which illustrates just how absurd the current time zone boundary setup is.

Since 90°W passes directly through the urbanized areas of Memphis and New Orleans, it's not wise to place the time zone boundary there, so the best place for it would be the Alabama/Mississippi state line since there are no urban areas along it, and it's not too far to the east. For continuity's sake, this would also require all of Indiana to go Eastern, as well as Kentucky and Tennessee east of the Tennessee River.

Good idea, huh?

pretty sure phenix city, as well as lanett and valley operate on eastern time because much of the population works in columbus.

[Dirt Grinder]

And the Florida panhandle should be part of Alabama.

[White Wine]

Originally Posted by Dirt Grinder

And the Florida panhandle should be part of Alabama.

Well that's the other good thing about moving Alabama to Eastern time, by default all of Florida would be moved over to Eastern time as well, which would create uniformity within that state.

That being said, I could see Tennessee raising a fuss since most likely Nashville and Memphis would end up in different time zones. But whatever. Alabama, in my opinion, is more closely aligned with Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina than it is with Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Makes sense to me.

Yes, the sun will come up late in the winter, but it will also set later............so your morning commute will be dark but your evening commute won't be like it is now. And having the sun stay up til 9 PM is pretty nice.........the sun sets earlier in the summertime in Alabama than it does pretty much anywhere else in the US I've been to - 8:00 PM at the very latest, in late June / early July. Most places around the country see sunsets somewhere between 8:30-9:30 PM in early summer.