Are time zones horizontal or vertical?

Because time zones are based on degrees of longitude (which are 360 imaginary lines running vertically around the planet from the North Pole to the South Pole) the distance between them changes as you move towards or away from the equator.

Do time zones change vertically?

Time zones seem to be universally defined in terms of surface geography. However a related area, Daylight Savings Time, has been subject to vertical differentiation. Back in the 1960s, Minneapolis (the major metropolis of Minnesota, USA) had its own notion of how to institute DST: Secrets of the City .

Why are time zones not the same?

As Earth rotates on its axis, it moves about 15 degrees every 60 minutes. After 24 hours, it has completed a full rotation of 360 degrees. The scientists used this information to divide the planet into 24 sections or time zones. Each time zone is 15 degrees of longitude wide.

How are time zones divided?

The Earth is loosely divided into 24 regions (time zones) separated by longitude. Not counting local variations, each line of longitude is divided by fifteen degrees; as a general rule and depending upon which way one travels, time moves forward or backward one hour for every fifteen degrees of longitude.

Why are some time zones off by 30 minutes?

So why are some cities 30 or 45 minutes off? That has largely to do with the politics in each of those places. For example, in New Delhi, India, they found themselves halfway between two meridians, and therefore decided to be 30 minutes between each, as opposed to adopting one time or the other.

Why are many time zone lines not perfectly straight?

To expand a bit, they are not straight for one primary reason: logistics. If the timezones were perfectly straight, then each hour time change would occur in 15 degree increments on either side of 0 longitude (Greenwich). That’s bad news for a city like Denver which straddles longitude 105 W.

Are we currently in Mountain standard time?

North America: MDT is currently not observed because locations are on standard time and are observing MST. Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) is 6 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This time zone is a Daylight Saving Time time zone and is used in: North America.

Why is the time in Kabul 30 minutes off?

Aghanistan Time or AFT has a UTC offset of + 4:30. This means that the time zone is 4 and a half hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. This means there is a 30 minute difference in local time from the actual one-hour time zone interval you’d usually see if traditional time standards were used.