Thread: Time zones

There are old timezones for Russia in profile settings. For example, Kaliningrad has GMT +3, and Moscow GMT +4 now. And no Daylight savings.
Also you can add Minsk to GMT +3 for me

What's this I hear about Russia having dropped summer time and only using Winter time, since 2011?
Very confusing! Can anyone explain what happened, and why?

I heard that in the US every state is using its own view on a daylight saving and it's hard to tell what time is it if you're moving through the country. Why do you think that abrogation of daylight saving time is very confusing? Actually, this is the only normal law in my memory. There is no much to explain, Russia is the largest country in the world and actually time zones not very helpfull in saving energy, because illuminance is different even in north and south part of the same time zone.

One more thing. Daylight saving time suppose to save energy on the light bulbs, but it is small amount of energy, most of which are spent to other electrical appliances. Besides, we are moving to the LED and luminous lamps in 2014, so it seems these things are related too (but probably not, our authorities never think even a step ahead, on the TV they said that cows are stressed and don't give milk ).

Originally Posted by Hanna

What's this I hear about Russia having dropped summer time and only using Winter time, since 2011?

From what I've heard, they dropped "winter" time.

Here in the Ukraine, they are also going to drop something, but I'm not certain what exactly. I sure hope it's summer time that'll get scrapped, after all.

In mainland US there are 4 time zones but Arizona and Indiana are different:


Time Zone
USA time zones map with current local time 12 hour format
State of Indiana map with Time- Local Time across Indiana USA 12 hour format

Scott

Originally Posted by delog

I heard that in the US every state is using its own view on a daylight saving and it's hard to tell what time is it if you're moving through the country. Why do you think that abrogation of daylight saving time is very confusing? Actually, this is the only normal law in my memory. There is no much to explain, Russia is the largest country in the world and actually time zones not very helpfull in saving energy, because illuminance is different even in north and south part of the same time zone.

We live in the summer time all year round
Dark in the mornings, a lot of sunlight in the evenings. It makes sense in the Winter, you know!

Originally Posted by fortheether

In mainland US there are 4 time zones but Arizona and Indiana are different:

That's interesting. I didn't know that some American states - or any states - actually differ in time within the same state.

But indeed, time zones are not always logical. I remember that I thought the time zone of Argentina was really illogical, especially during winter time. By far the largest part of Argentina lies west of longitude 60°, while the rest lies to the east, including Buenos Aires. However, Argentina is the only country west of longitude 60° with the time zone -3h during winter time, while the rest have -4h or less. This meant that I had to set my watch an hour back and forth each time I crossed to and from Bolivia or Paraguay in the north, which is just travelling north-south - and also when I had to cross to and from Chile in the south. They probably chose to do so as the capital is in the generally -3h time zone and to avoid having two time zones. The same is probably true for a lot of other countries as well.

Originally Posted by E-learner

Here in the Ukraine, they are also going to drop something, but I'm not certain what exactly. I sure hope it's summer time that'll get scrapped, after all.

They'd said they dropped it, then changed their minds, then did this cycle for a few times. It's still unclear what the final decision will be.

Some people are happy about dropping Winter/Summer time (no more changes), some are indifferent, but many people in my city were positively seething about it. According to a widespread opinion the time our authorities seemed to chose somehow suits The Western parts of the country better, while in the East (where I live) it supposedly will be dawning at 3-4 am, and will be getting dark at some ridiculously early time as well.
Which is also a nice illustration to the division of Ukrainian society, when every decree or decision is deemed a malicious conspiracy either by the West, or by the East.

The UK has done lots of studies around time changes - MUCH more people die in accidents when it gets dark early.
It is better for public health and safety that it is a bit dark when you go to work, than that it is dark all evenings.
The UK is thinking of making some kind of change, but frankly I can't remember what it is - permanent summer time, or join the CET time zone..
Ireland could never do that though, but for the UK it would be possible.

Interesting information about the situation in Ukraine, gromozeka. I think it is a pity we always talk about Russia here and not enough about Ukraine.
Isn't there a Ukraine topic that you could start a thread about in the Politics section?
I am still blown away by Kiev. I had not expected it to be so big and grand...

When it comes to referring to time zones within Russia, do people reference the time zone in terms of UTC or MSK? For instance, Kamchatka Time can be referenced as UTC+12 or MSK+9. The MSK apparently is derived from Moscow Standard Time with the MSK itself being the English equivalent of МСК which apparently is short for Москов. How much of that is accurate? Another example: Irkutsk Time can be referenced as UTC+8 or MSK+5. Moscow Time is therefore UTC+3. I guess what it boils down to is a question of how people in Russia refer to their time zones in everyday conversation. Do they speak in terms of UTC, MSK, or the specific name of the time zones (Kaliningrad, Moscow, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Vladivostok, Srednekolymsk, Kamchatka)?

Bobert

I live in Omsk and we have both Moscow and Omsk time for reference. People don't usually say Omsk time time though, they just say our time (по нашему времени) or local time (по местному времени). Moscow time is also used as a standard time zone for trains, airports, international events etc. That's just for convenience though, to avoid confusion, it's much easier to keep track of one time zone than of a plethora of local time zones.

We usually refer to Moscow time, even speaking about events on Earth's orbit. No one cares about what UTC is. If you want to link your local time to another person's time, you would ask: "какая у вас разница с Москвой?" Then the answer "Один час" would mean, that their clock are 2 hours behind mine.

Departure times are specified in terms of local time, except intercity trains, which use Moscow time.

BTW, we changed time couple years ago, and now live in the darkness. October-January was a total nightmare. Not sure I survive the next winter.
The government continues experiments with time zones, which drives mad computer and gadgets.