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October 24, 2003
Time for a change
How many people want it to stay the way it is, with Nevada in the Pacific time zone and switch between daylight-saving and standard time? That's what I thought; the night owls outnumber the early birds. But then Nevada is a 24-hour, late-night, entertainment center where people would rather sleep late and appreciate an extra hour of sunlight in the evening. Southern Nevada is just now entering a very choice time of year. The summer heat has abated, and we can turn off the air conditioners and enjoy the outdoors. And what is our reward for surviving another summer? We get to turn our clocks back one hour this weekend, enjoy an extra hour to sleep in this Sunday morning, then spend the next six months watching it get dark depressingly early, before many of us get off work. I noticed how early it got dark as soon as I moved to Nevada. It's because the boundary line for Mountain Standard Time is only 100 miles east in Utah, and we're just behind it. While the Western Regional Climate Center doesn't have data for Pahrump specifically, in Las Vegas, at 36 degrees north latitude, the sun will set at 4:26 p.m. from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. That's almost as early as International Falls, Minn., at the 49th parallel on the Canadian border, where sunset will come at 4:18 p.m. Central Standard Time from Dec. 7-16. The traditional argument for switching back to standard time every year always comes from people who prefer their sunshine in the morning - namely farmers and parents who don't want their children waiting for the school bus in the dark. The latest sunrise is at 6:52 a.m. in Las Vegas, from Dec. 31-Jan. 13. If that time were pushed up to 7:52 a.m. no doubt the children would start their school day by standing in the dark, but then with Rosemary Clarke Middle School starting at the wee hour of 7 a.m. they'll probably be in the dark anyway. As for the farmers, well there aren't too many of them in Nevada anymore, only a few dozen ranchers. The earliest the sun rises is at 5:23 a.m. from June 7-19, daylight-saving time, early enough to shine on those late-night revelers heading home from Las Vegas casinos. I imagine some retirees like to be up at the crack of dawn. Then there are some people who are just morning people, like the guy who walks around the office bright and chipper, whistling in a vibrato at 7 a.m. while you're half-asleep, wondering why you're not still in the land of the sandman. The latest sunset in Las Vegas is at 8:02 p.m. from June 24-July 4, the heart of daylight-saving time. That hardly ranks with the long evenings I remember as a boy sitting around barbeques in the Midwest. Back in International Falls, for example, folks see the sun set at 9:20 p.m. from June 21-30. While northerners enjoy the warm summers, here in the hotter, southern climes the more enjoyable time for being outside is in the winter. It's sad to deprive everybody of an extra hour to enjoy the outdoors. Consider a few of the benefits to an extra hour of sunlight: Commuters from Las Vegas would have another hour to look at the scenic cliffs of Red Rock Canyon before it got dark. The Town of Pahrump wouldn't have to pay for another hour of electricity to light the ballfields at Honeysuckle Park. Wintertime tourists could see an extra hour of area attractions like Death Valley National Park or China Ranch Date Farm. Golfers could get another nine holes in before the sun sets and the sprinklers go on at area links. And high school softball doubleheaders in the spring wouldn't have to be called because of darkness quite so often. Arizona never goes on daylight-saving time. People who drive from Pahrump to Phoenix during the summer don't have to set their clocks ahead, but they do have to change their watches in the winter. There have been bills sponsored in the Nevada Legislature before to abandon daylight-saving time. I have better idea: put in a bill to convert to Mountain Standard Time. With such a switch, we would be more closely aligned with Utah and Arizona in what is sometimes referred to as the Intermountain West. I imagine some Nevadans would rather be closer to our eastern neighbors than California anyway. It might create some confusion for all those California tourists coming to Las Vegas, but if they set their watches ahead one hour it wouldn't hurt too much; Las Vegas nightlife doesn't really kick in until the late hours anyway. Besides, clocks are irrelevant - and mostly absent - inside casinos anyway. Then again, no change in the way Nevada manages its time will change the fact that the earth is a funny place. Along the Equator, the days and nights are equally 12 hours long, so in Nairobi, Kenya, the sun comes up at 6:30 a.m. and sets reliably at 6:30 p.m., East African time, every day. It could be worse, though. We could be living in Anchorage, Alaska, at almost 60 degrees north latitude. Way up there, the sun sets at 11:42 p.m. in late June, making daylight-saving time seem a bit redundant. On New Year's Eve, though, the sun doesn't rise until 10:14 a.m. and only stays up until 3:51 p.m. Now that would really be depressing. I'd have to make sure I had a deluxe cable television package for those long winter nights. Write to Mark Waite at mwaite@pvtimes.com. |
