Time zones
Time zones explained
What each zone actually means, which cities use it, and why its abbreviation changes during the year.
Eastern Time
Eastern Time covers the east coast of the United States and Canada, including New York, Toronto and Miami.
EST · EDT
Central Time
Central Time is used across the middle of the United States and Canada, including Chicago, Houston and Winnipeg.
CST · CDT
Mountain Time
Mountain Time covers Denver, Salt Lake City, Calgary and much of the US interior west.
MST · MDT
Pacific Time
Pacific Time is used along the west coast of North America — Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver.
PST · PDT
UTC — Coordinated Universal Time
UTC is the global reference standard that every other time zone is defined against.
UTC
GMT — Greenwich Mean Time
GMT is the historical time standard set at the Greenwich meridian, still widely used as a label.
GMT
India Standard Time
India Standard Time (IST) is UTC+5:30 all year and does not observe daylight saving.
IST
Central European Time
Central European Time covers much of continental Europe, from Madrid to Warsaw.
CET · CEST
A note on abbreviations
Time zone abbreviations are not unique. CST can mean Central Standard Time in the United States, China Standard Time, or Cuba Standard Time. IST can mean India, Ireland or Israel. When precision matters, name the city or state the UTC offset instead of relying on letters.