Where and when was the shortest calendar day in history, due to DST and calendar changes, etc?
Upvote:2
If you were on an 18th Century British warship, the day started at noon rather than midnight (12 hours behind). If you arrived in port in the afternoon and then stayed ashore overnight, your day would have been 12 hours long.
Of course, if you're allowed to travel and cross the international date line, then the day can be as long or short as you like.
Upvote:4
I posit that, wherever the change occurred between the Julian calendar (O.S.) and the Gregorian calendar (N.S.), that constituted the shortest day -- indeed, a group of them -- since the span of days skipped therefore became non-existent. Those days could thus be interpreted as zero hours long.
Upvote:5
Some places have seen a whole day pass in an instant. December 30th 2011 had no duration at all in Samoa and Tokelau:
Samoans who had gathered around the main clock tower in the capital, Apia, cheered and clapped as the clock struck midnight on Thursday to the wail of sirens and burst of fireworks and time jumped forward 24 hours to Saturday. Drivers circled the clock tower blaring their horns, and prayers were held across the country. The change effectively erases Friday 30 December 2011 from its calendar.
Upvote:6
I nominate the Alaska Purchase as causing the shortest calendar day. Russia still used the Julian calendar, so when the transfer occurred, so did the calendars, with October 6, 1867 suddenly becoming October 18, 1867.
The transfer appparently occurred at 3:30 pm, meaning October 18, 1867 technically lasted only 8 and a half hours (using a very strict definition for "technically").
Upvote:7
The day that western China switched from local time to the now-standard UTC+8 (the same as eastern China, four normal time zones away), some cities/provinces there should have experienced a 20 hour day. I am making this answer CW so that someone more knowledgeable can fill in the historical details.
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