These are the 13 craziest time zone boundaries

The fact that it gets dark earlier in the evening has consequences for some of us. But at least that’s the end of the “time zone problems”. In other places it looks very different. Because in some time zones people have to deal with sometimes strange excesses every day.

We have put together some “special limits” here.

In the past, time zones did not exist. There wasn’t even a clock. But as long-distance travel developed, the need for “clear time” increased. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was introduced at 11 a.m. on August 2, 1880, and from then on all places in the British Isles had the same time.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Ireland still had its own time zone, which was 25 minutes and 21 seconds behind GMT. This was abolished in 1916. Greenwich Mean Time became the standard. By the way: Greenwich is pronounced “Grenitsch”.

Today the time standard is UTC, Coulated Universal Time. The time zones worldwide are calculated on this basis. GMT is based on UTC (UTC±0). Other time zones are specified with GMT/UTC + or – (for example: GMT+1 for Switzerland and GMT+2 for Swiss Summer Time).

China theoretically spans five time zones. To promote simplicity and solidarity, “Beijing time” applies nationwide, i.e. UTC+8. One of the consequences of this is that in Tibet or the Xinjiang region the sun only rises around 10 a.m. in winter. An unofficial period was created there, but this was rejected by the Han Chinese living in the area.

But the enormous time zone also leads to strange moments internationally. Anyone crossing the border from China into Afghanistan must advance their time by no less than 3.5 hours. At the Afghanistan/Pakistan/China border triangle you can change the time three times (UTC+4.5, UTC+5, UTC+8). However, it is fair to say that this region is virtually uninhabited and that the country triangle is located on a high peak.

We will stay in the region for a while. Nepal was the only country that was not satisfied with half an hour, but set the time at UTC+5:45. The reason for this is that the Nepalese Standard Time meridian was in Gaurishankhar, a mountain east of Kathmandu. This has been true since 1986.

Anyone crossing the border into China from Nepal must set their clocks forward 2:15 am; those traveling to India must set their clocks back 15 minutes.

Besides Nepal, only the Chatham Islands, which are part of New Zealand, have a quarter-hour time zone. (UTC+12:45).

Kiribati was long east of the date line and was therefore about a day behind Australia. As Australia became the main business partner, this meant that inquiries from Kiribati were sent there on Friday morning, but in Australia it was already Saturday morning and therefore the weekend.

On January 1, 1995, Kiribati crossed the date line. So December 31, 1994 did not exist in Kiribati. Because the island state extends over many islands, the date line there has a special bulge. By the way, Hawaii is on the same meridian of longitude and has the same time as Kiribati – just one day later.

By the way: Samoa also joined the “Australian side” in 2011 for a similar reason as Kiribati. However, American Samoa, 70 kilometers to the east, remained on the ‘American side’.

We stay on the date line for a while, but travel further north to the Diomede Islands. The small archipelago in the Bering Strait lies between Russia and the US. The western island (Big Diomedes Island) belongs to Russia, while Small Diomedes Island, about four kilometers further east, belongs to the US. In addition to the nations, as mentioned, the date line also separates the two islands, which are within visual distance of each other.

But they are separated by 21 hours. So if it’s Monday at noon on the Russian island (UTC+12), the island neighbors on the American side will still enjoy Sunday afternoon (3 p.m., UTC-9).

Of course, a 21 hour time difference is not the greatest possible. This is not – as might be expected – 24 hours, but rather 26 hours.

This difference exists between the line islands that belong to Kiribati (UTC+14, with such beautiful place names on the Christmas Islands as Kiritimati, London, Paris, Poland or Banana) and the Baker Islands (UTC-12).

The two islands are just over 2,000 kilometers apart (roughly the equivalent of Bern – St. Petersburg). But while on the uninhabited Baker Islands the clock shows 11 p.m. on Saturday evening, on the Line Islands it is already 1 a.m. on Monday.

Speaking of Baker Island and UTC -12. Have you ever looked at how much land the UTC -12 time zone covers? Actually, in addition to Baker Island (2.1 km2), there is only Howland Island (area 2.6 km2). Both are listed as uninhabited. No one lives permanently in the time zone UTC -12.

By the way: Howland Island is the land area on Earth that, at 386 km, is the shortest distance from Earth’s counterpoint, the intersection of the equator with the 180° meridian.

The result of the maximum time difference of more than 24 hours: three different calendar days can exist simultaneously worldwide.

So if it is 11:30 am (UTC+1) on Saturday in Switzerland, the clocks in Kiritimati on the Christmas Islands of Kiribati are already showing 12:30 pm on Sunday (UTC+14) and in American Samoa it is still 11:30 pm (UTC) on Friday. -11).

As we have already learned, some countries are too big to be in one time zone. But of course it can be even more complicated. A time zone border runs through nine US states. In Indiana, for example, 12 of the 92 counties operate on Central Time (UTC-6), the rest on Eastern Time (UTC-5).

Of the twelve counties, six are located in the northwest and are based on the city of Chicago in the neighboring state of Illinois; the other six are located southwest around the city of Evansville.

But things are getting very strange in Arizona. As you can see from the map above, there also appear to be two time zones. However, the difference only occurs during the summer time phase (DST). As a result, just like in summer time, the days become longer in the evening. However, Arizona is one of the few states that generally does not practice daylight saving time.

This in turn does not apply to the Navajo Nations Reservation, an area about twice the size of Switzerland, where the clock is changed every time. But that is not enough. The Hopi reservation exists within the Navajo Nations reservation, which in turn does not practice daylight saving time. And this Hopi reservation has an exclave on the Navajo Nations reservation on the one hand, and an exclave of the Navajo Nations reservation on the other. It looks like this and gets quite complicated in terms of time:

Anyone who takes a 4.5-hour round trip from Flagstaff via Tuba City, Shongopovi and Winslow back to Flagstaff would have to change the clock six times during this trip.

Daylight saving time also makes life in Australia more complicated. Basically, Australia has given itself three time zones: UTC+8, UTC+9:30 and UTC+10. There are also time zones from external areas, such as Lord Howe Island (UTC+10:30), but we will focus on the continental part here.

However, in the summer two time zones are added. Because three states adopt daylight saving time. In South Australia this means UTC+10:30, the southeastern states – including the major cities of Melbourne and Sydney – set their clocks to UTC+11. So if you need to be at Currumbin Beach (Queensland) at 2pm and start in Tweed Heads (New South Wales) leaving at 2.45pm you should be able to complete the 15 minute journey in 2 hours. pm..

Mexico had a similar problem until October 2022, with some provinces experiencing daylight saving time and others not. Since October 2022, winter time has been in effect everywhere – or as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador calls it: “God’s time.”

And then you also have that in Australia Central Western Australian Standard Time (ACWST, UTC +8:45). However, this only applies to a few settlements (Border Village, Cocklebiddy, Eucla, Madura and Moundrabilla) in an almost uninhabited area in the south. After all, it’s on the Eyre Highway.

Further north it also becomes much more interesting. The Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador actually operates on UTC-4. However, the island of Newfoundland sets its clocks to UTC-3:30.

But not just the island, but also the easternmost tip of mainland Labrador. L’Anse au Clair and Norman Bay also set their clocks forward half an hour. And yes, the island of St-Pierre and Miquelon, right next to Newfoundland, follows UTC-4:30.

This brings us to the countries that differ by about half an hour and show a deviation of xx:30 from UTC. These include: Iran, Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Venezuela is no longer in this club. The country turned its clock back half an hour in 2007, but returned to UTC-4 in 2016. All countries are free to choose their time zone. The decision usually has to do with more sunlight in the evening hours. India, for example, is expected to save large amounts of electricity thanks to the half-hour.

Finally, a small anecdote that these large time differences do not always exist somewhere between two South Sea islands or on some peaks of the Himalayas and are therefore almost imperceptible anyway.

Anyone celebrating in Arica, Chile’s northernmost city, at the legendary Sunset Discotheque (UTC-3), can cross the border into Peru shortly after New Year’s Eve and reach Tacna within an hour. The clock is set back two hours there (UTC-5). You can celebrate New Year’s Eve twice as often. For example with Pisco Sour.