6 ms·

Panama observes EST all year. Daylight Saving Time has never been used here

19 points by codetrotter 3y ago

k310 3y ago
Reason? The length of day changes by 1 hour over a year. https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/panama/equinox-solstice.htm https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/panama/equ...
- codetrotter 3y ago
  True > The shortest day of the year in Panamá is 12.4 hours long and occurs on the winter solstice - December 21st. > The longest day of the year in Panamá is 13.4 hours long and occurs on the summer solstice - June 21st. https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/panama/panama-day-length.htm https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/panama/pan... Meanwhile however, for example Cancún in Mexico seems to not have too much of a difference either > The shortest day of the year in Cancún is 11.7 hours long and occurs on the winter solstice - December 21st. > The longest day of the year in Cancún is 14.2 hours long and occurs on the summer solstice - June 21st. https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/mexico/cancun-day-length.htm https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/mexico/can... That’s 2.5 hours difference in Cancún between shortest and longest day. Which is more, but still not a lot right. Compare to Oslo, Norway. > The shortest day of the year in Oslo is 7.8 hours long and occurs on the winter solstice - December 22nd. > The longest day of the year in Oslo is 22.3 hours long and occurs on the summer solstice - June 21st. https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/europe/norway/oslo-day-length.htm https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/europe/norway/oslo-day-len... Now we are talking. And now consider this: - I am Norwegian. All my life I’ve been used to DST just being a thing that happens. - For the past couple of months I’ve been staying in Cancún in Mexico. While I was there, time in Europe was adjusted for DST as usual. - I came to Panama one week ago. - To me it was indeed surprising to find out today that neither Panama nor Mexico observe DST. - Panama is extra unique wrt DST for me, because they never used it. - Mexico used to observe DST up until recently. Even in Cancún they had a DST adjustment as recently as 2014. And in some other parts of Mexico as recently as 2022. Them following DST was mainly because of economic ties to USA according to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_Mexico https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_Mexico So, to the people ITT think it’s obvious that Panama does not have DST. Well, that’s gonna depend on your past experiences and where you are from. It certainly was a surprise to me :P And considering even Mexico used to follow DST, it might not even be as obvious as those other commenters make it out to be.
nerdbert 3y ago
This is normal for countries near the equator. Why would you use daylight savings time if the length of the day barely changes?
- mc32 3y ago
  Exactly! It would seem people would know this but apparently it's a surprise to some.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
delta_p_delta_x 3y ago
Panama City latitude: 8'59° N. Is this really news? Essentially every tropical country doesn't use DST, which is frankly a pain in the neck. EDIT: Some tropical countries are on permanent DST, like Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore's longitude is ~103°50'E, which translates to a time zone of UTC+7 or so, but it is currently at UTC+8.
- benatkin 3y ago
  Indeed this is not news to me. However I just learned something. It looks like Colombia and Ecuador give their own name to UTC-5 while Panama lets their use of it be called Eastern Standard Time. https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC-05:00 https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC-05:00 Edit: I like it either way. Perú is also on the list. I knew it would be, but didn't see it because it's under Southern Hemisphere. Also, timeanddate.com has these: https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/pet https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/pet
shotnothing 3y ago
I almost missed a (remote and international) interview on Monday as DST ended on that exact day. Honestly, DST seems like such a crazy system coming from someone who lives in the tropics, like instead of changing schedules you change the clock?
- adastra22 3y ago
  Instead of changing one clock, we should instead change all scheduled events, everywhere?
  - shotnothing 3y ago
    Yeah, so that clocks are a constant offset globally, and the is no need to have discountinuity by shifting the clock back and forth on arbitrary dates every year. Shift working hours explicitly etc.
    - adastra22 3y ago
      Wow you double-downed on it. Seriously changing 1 thing is vastly easier than changing everything simultaneously. Your suggestion would be completely impractical.
korse 3y ago
Arizona doesn't use DST... neither do most US territories.

19 points by codetrotter 3y ago

k310 3y ago

Reason? The length of day changes by 1 hour over a year. https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/panama/equinox-solstice.htm https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/panama/equ...

codetrotter 3y ago
True > The shortest day of the year in Panamá is 12.4 hours long and occurs on the winter solstice - December 21st. > The longest day of the year in Panamá is 13.4 hours long and occurs on the summer solstice - June 21st. https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/panama/panama-day-length.htm https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/panama/pan... Meanwhile however, for example Cancún in Mexico seems to not have too much of a difference either > The shortest day of the year in Cancún is 11.7 hours long and occurs on the winter solstice - December 21st. > The longest day of the year in Cancún is 14.2 hours long and occurs on the summer solstice - June 21st. https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/mexico/cancun-day-length.htm https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/central-america/mexico/can... That’s 2.5 hours difference in Cancún between shortest and longest day. Which is more, but still not a lot right. Compare to Oslo, Norway. > The shortest day of the year in Oslo is 7.8 hours long and occurs on the winter solstice - December 22nd. > The longest day of the year in Oslo is 22.3 hours long and occurs on the summer solstice - June 21st. https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/europe/norway/oslo-day-length.htm https://www.sunrisesunsettime.org/europe/norway/oslo-day-len... Now we are talking. And now consider this: - I am Norwegian. All my life I’ve been used to DST just being a thing that happens. - For the past couple of months I’ve been staying in Cancún in Mexico. While I was there, time in Europe was adjusted for DST as usual. - I came to Panama one week ago. - To me it was indeed surprising to find out today that neither Panama nor Mexico observe DST. - Panama is extra unique wrt DST for me, because they never used it. - Mexico used to observe DST up until recently. Even in Cancún they had a DST adjustment as recently as 2014. And in some other parts of Mexico as recently as 2022. Them following DST was mainly because of economic ties to USA according to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_Mexico https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_Mexico So, to the people ITT think it’s obvious that Panama does not have DST. Well, that’s gonna depend on your past experiences and where you are from. It certainly was a surprise to me :P And considering even Mexico used to follow DST, it might not even be as obvious as those other commenters make it out to be.

nerdbert 3y ago

This is normal for countries near the equator. Why would you use daylight savings time if the length of the day barely changes?

mc32 3y ago
Exactly! It would seem people would know this but apparently it's a surprise to some.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

delta_p_delta_x 3y ago

Panama City latitude: 8'59° N. Is this really news? Essentially every tropical country doesn't use DST, which is frankly a pain in the neck. EDIT: Some tropical countries are on permanent DST, like Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore's longitude is ~103°50'E, which translates to a time zone of UTC+7 or so, but it is currently at UTC+8.

benatkin 3y ago
Indeed this is not news to me. However I just learned something. It looks like Colombia and Ecuador give their own name to UTC-5 while Panama lets their use of it be called Eastern Standard Time. https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC-05:00 https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTC-05:00 Edit: I like it either way. Perú is also on the list. I knew it would be, but didn't see it because it's under Southern Hemisphere. Also, timeanddate.com has these: https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/pet https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/pet

shotnothing 3y ago

I almost missed a (remote and international) interview on Monday as DST ended on that exact day. Honestly, DST seems like such a crazy system coming from someone who lives in the tropics, like instead of changing schedules you change the clock?

adastra22 3y ago
Instead of changing one clock, we should instead change all scheduled events, everywhere?
- shotnothing 3y ago
  Yeah, so that clocks are a constant offset globally, and the is no need to have discountinuity by shifting the clock back and forth on arbitrary dates every year. Shift working hours explicitly etc.
  - adastra22 3y ago
    Wow you double-downed on it. Seriously changing 1 thing is vastly easier than changing everything simultaneously. Your suggestion would be completely impractical.

korse 3y ago

Arizona doesn't use DST... neither do most US territories.