Daylight Saving Time on Now Ruz for the first six months of the Persian year, meaning the clocks shifted last Thursday night; the United States is on Daylight Saving Time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.
On March 11, the United States went onto Daylight Saving Time, sometimes called summer time. But Iran didn’t shift for another nine days. And it has mow changed back on a different date in the fall.
The result of all this is that Iran is normally 8-1/2 hours ahead of the American East Coast, but is 7-1/2 hours ahead for seven or eight weeks a year. Here’s a table to tape to your telephone or refrigerator.
From: Iran is:
March 20 thru Sept. 21……………………………..8-1/2 hrs ahead
Sept 22 thru first Sunday in Nov…………………7-1/2 hrs ahead
1st Sun.in Nov thru 2nd Sunday in March……..8-1/2 hrs ahead
Second Sunday in March thru March 20……..7-1/2 hrs ahead
US Exceptions: Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation), Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands do not go on summer time.
Canada: The time laws are set by the provinces, which follow the US formula above—except for most of Saskatchewan and bits of some other provinces, which don’t advance the clocks in the summer.
Memory aid: How do you remember whether to add or subtract an hour? There’s a common English language memory jog: Spring forward; fall backward.
Time zones: If you live in the Central Time Zone, add an hour to the right hand column; for the Mountain Time Zone, add two hours; and for the Pacific Time Zone, add three hours. For the Atlantic Time Zone (Puerto Rico and Canada’s Maritime provinces) subtract one hour. If you’re in Newfoundland or Alaska, you’re on your own.
The World: The Northern Hemisphere countries can be divided into three groups when it comes to summer time.
1) North America—Canada, the United States, the Bahamas and Bermuda use the dates above. Most of Mexico changes clocks April 1, but most states bordering the United States shift with the US. while Sonora (bordering Arizona) doesn’t shift at all, just like Arizona.
2) All of Europe (plus Turkey, minus Iceland) and all of the former Soviet Union (except the five Central Asian “stans.” Armenia and Georgia) have adopted summer time from the last Sunday in March through the last Sunday in October—i.e., it starts two or three weeks later than in North America and ends one week earlier).
3) Iran and six other Middle Eastern countries used summer time this year—but without identical start and finish dates. After all, it is the Middle East! The others this year are Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank. With the revolution, Egypt has now opted out of Daylight Savings Time. Note that no country in Asia east of Iran uses Daylight Savings Time; it is a foreign concept in that part of the world.
The Southern Hemisphere is a different matter because its summer comes in our winter. Only seven Southern Hemisphere countries are going on summer time in the fall: Australia (parts); Brazil (parts); Chile; Namibia; New Zealand; Paraguay; and Uruguay; plus a scattering of Pacific Island states. And they use many starting and ending dates.
