Correcting for your position in your Time Zone
When solar time became inadequate for railway timekeeping, a system of time zones was initiated creating 24 time zones, each 15° wide - within which zone all clocks would tell the same time. (Basic arithmetic: The earth's 360° circumference was divided into 24 one hour segments, and the result was 24 time zones each 15° wide.)
This correction for your sundial is determined by the relationship between the longitude of your sundial and the longitude of your time zone meridian. The central meridians of all 24 time zones can be found in the table below. Note: some time zones are perturbed by geographical and political boundaries.
The correction is the difference between your longitude and the time zone meridian, converted into minutes. For example:
That is, for our example of where we are 3 1/4 degrees west of the time zone meridian, we are -13 minutes or 13 minutes earlier in time according to the sun. If the time zone (your watch) says it is exactly noon, 12:00, then the longitude correction requires us to subtract 13 minutes and we would expect the dial to show 11:47. If this dial shows the shadow at exactly the XII mark, then we add 13 minutes and we would expect a clock to show 12:13
Even after the time zone offset is applied, your dial will not consistently tell standard or daylight savings time. Seen the Equation of Time tab.
| Time Zone | Hours from GMT |
Central Meridian (deg) |
Locations |
| GMT-11hrs | 11 | 165 | Midway, Samoa |
| GMT-10hrs | 10 | 150 | Hawaii, Society Is. |
| NORTH AMERICA | |||
| GMT-9hrs | 9 | 135 | Alaska, Pitcairn Island |
| US Pacific Standard Time | 8 | 120 | Whitehorse, Seattle, Los Angeles |
| US Mountain Standard Time | 7 | 105 | Denver, Phoenix, Yellow Knife, W. Mexico |
| US Central Standard Time | 6 | 90 | Chicago, New Orleans, Churchill, E. Mexico |
| US Eastern Standard Time | 5 | 75 | New York, Montreal, Washington D.C., Peru |
| Atlantic | 4 | 60 | Nova Scotia, Venezuela, (Newfoundland -30m) |
| GMT-3hrs | 3 | 45 | Greenland, E. Brazil, Argentina |
| GMT-2hrs | 2 | 30 | Georgia & S. Sandwich Islands |
| GMT-1hrs | 1 | 15 | Cape Verdes, Azores |
| Greenwich | 0 | 0 | WET, British Isles, Iceland, W. Africa |
| Middle Europe | -1 | -15 | MET, Europe, Scandinavia, C. Africa |
| Eastern Europe | -2 | -30 | EET, OEZ, Europe, Mid East, E.C. Africa |
| GMT+3hrs | -3 | -45 | Moscow, E. Africa |
| GMT+4hrs | -4 | -60 | Gorki, Oman, Mauritius |
| GMT+5hrs | -5 | -75 | Pakistan, (India +30m) |
| GMT+6hrs | -6 | -90 | Bangladesh, Burma |
| GMT+7hrs | -7 | -105 | S.E. Asia, Sumatra |
| GMT+8hrs | -8 | -120 | China, Philippines, W. Australia |
| GMT+9hrs | -9 | -135 | Korea, Japan, (C. Australia +30m) |
| GMT+10hrs | -10 | -150 | P. New Guinea, Guam, E. Australia |
| GMT+11hrs | -11 | -165 | Sakhalin Peninsula, Solomon Islands |
| GMT+12hrs | -12 | -180 | New Zealand, Wake, Marshall Islands |