Saint_Ward said

I don't have a strong opinion on Standard time vs Daylight Savings time, but let's look at what actually happens.

Use https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/minneapolis as a reference, then swap to other cities.

So, I'm going to use Minneapolis, MN for the North and South Florida for the South. For those that don't know this, the further south, aka closer to the equator you are, the less of an effect the seasons have on daylight. The further north you are, i.e. further from the equator, the larger effect the seasons have on daylight hours.

Let's start with South Florida, I'll do Miami. This currently shows the time changes, but we can use simple math to make the point. I'll focus on Daylight hours, and Civil Twilight.

As you can see, daylight starts earlier and ends later in the summer, peaking in mid June, and starts later and ends earlier until mid winter.


If Miami was always in Daylight Savings Time, today, March 16th, Sunrise will be at about 7:30am and sunset wsa around 7:30pm. with, about 20 minutes of twilight before and after. If we stayed in standard time, Sunrise would have been at 6:30am, and sunset would have been at 6:30pm.

EDT = Eastern Daylight Time, EST = Eastern Standard Time.

In mid June (the 18th), EDT sunrise is 6:29am, and sunset is 8:14pm. If we were in EST Sunrise would be at 5:29am and Sunset at 7:14pm. 13 hours and 45 minutes of daylight.

In Mid Jan, Jan 18th, EDT sunrise would be 8:08am and sunset would be 6:53pm. 10 hours and 45 min. in EST, sunrise is currently 7:08am and sunset is 5:53pm. For the same 10 hours and 45 min.

Summer to winter has a 3 hour daylight difference.

No, let's use the more extreme example of Minneapolis.



June 18 - EDT Sunrise is at 5:26am, and Sunset is at 9:02pm. If we stuck with EST, Sunrise would be at 4:26am and Sunset would be at 8:02pm. A total of 15 hours and 37 minutes of daylight. Almost an hour more than Miami.

Jan 18th - future EDT Sunrise would be at 8:45am, and Sunset would be at 6:01pm. Current EST Sunrise is 7:45am and Sunset is 5:01pm. 9 hours and 16 minutes of daylight either way.

Summer to winter has a 6 hour and 21 minutes daylight difference. 3 hours and 21 minutes more than Miami.

Personally, I think it's the massive gain in daylight hours as a function of the seasons, that matter a whole lot more than a 1 hour shift. But it seems like the time change has sort of made sense, even down south. But it makes more sense up north. I think an 8:08 to 8:45am sunrise is a bit late in the day in January. For perspective, my kid is out of the house at 7:15am to stand outside waiting for the bus.

If you want to get a feel for New Orleans, it's closer to Miami.. about 15 minutes more daylight in the summer, and about a half hour less in the winter than Miami.

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