Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 10:59:24 -0800 From: Rives McDow <rmcdow@enteles.com>
In addition to Mongolia starting daylight savings as reported earlier (adopted dst on April 27, 2001,0200 local time, ending Sept. 28, 2001),
Thanks. Sorry, I missed that somehow. Is this a one-time deal, or are they permanently instituting DST, presumably using a last-Friday-of-April-and-September rule?
there are three time zones.
I guess it's time to add a new Asia/Choibalsan Zone. Shanks wrote that they diverged from Ulaanbaatar time in April 1983, so I'll assume that. Also, your "0200 local time" agrees with Shanks from mid-1984 on, but disagrees with the IATA; I'll assume that the IATA has been wrong (which wouldn't be the first time).
Provinces 19 hours from the IDL: Bayan-ulgii, Uvs, Khovd, Zavkhan, Govi-Altai
<http://www.mongoliatourism.gov.mn/general.htm> (now inaccessible, alas) reported in 1999-09 that only Bayan-ulgii, Uvs, and Khovd were in that time zone. Did the other two provinces switch zones? They are further west than Khovd, so for now, I'll assume that the earlier reference missed those two provinces. (That reference claimed that there was no third time zone in the east, which disagreed with Shanks and other sources, so it was on my "questionable" list anyway.)
Provinces 20 hours from the IDL: Khovsgol, Bulgan, Arkhangai, Khentii, Tov, Bayankhongor, Ovorkhangai, Dundgovi, Dornogovi, Omnogovi,
Provinces 21 hours from the IDL: Choibalsan, Sukhbaatar
Just as a point of trivia, <http://www.world-gazetteer.com/c/c_mn.htm> says that Choibalsan is in the province of Dornod. Your list also omits the province of Selenge, which is listed in that source and at the CIA. (Maybe they redrew the provincial lines lately? It's such a pain to deal with a nation that is still nearly half nomadic. :-)