Massachusetts Could Swap Time Zones for Later Winter Sunsets
- Lawmakers study moving Massachusetts into a new time zone
- Sometimes the sun in Boston sets three hours after lunch
Sunset over Oak Bluffs harbor, on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Photographer: Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty ImagesOf all the major cities on America’s eastern seaboard, none is as far north or east as Boston. Which creates a slight problem in winter: The sun sets really early. As in, for most of December, well before happy hour.
The state, it appears, might do something about that. Governor Charles Baker recently signed a bill ordering a study of the wisdom of moving its 10,555 square miles into a time zone that would brighten the end of the day in the months the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the sun. The idea came from Quincy resident Tom Emswiler, who worries Massachusetts is losing college grads to sunnier climes. On Dec. 9 last year, the sun went down in Boston at 4:11 p.m., only 22 minutes later than in the Yukon.