North American Time Zones and GMTWeather observations are always taken with respect to time. Thus all observations have a corresponding time, and that time is reported along with the measurement. By convention, weather scientists use the twenty four hour clock, and use one time zone, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). This time is also known as Universal Time (UTC). To convert to local time, we must know the time difference between GMT and local time for both standard time and summertime (daylight savings time). Not all states use daylight savings time in the summer.
The Time Zones across North America and Pacific from East to West are:
Standard Daylight Savings
Time Time
Atlantic
Eastern EST EDT
Central CST CDT
Mountain MST MDT
Pacific PST PDT
Alaska
Hawaii
Standard time:
GMT ATL EST CST MST PST ALA HAW
difference -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10
00 8P* 7P* 6P* 5P* 4P* 3P* 2P*
01 9P* 8P* 7P* 6P* 5P* 4P* 3P*
02 10P* 9P* 8P* 7P* 6P* 5P* 4P*
03 11P* 10P* 9P* 8P* 7P* 6P* 5P*
04 12A 11P* 10P* 9P* 8P* 7P* 6P*
05 1A 12A 11P* 10P* 9P* 8P* 7P*
06 2A 1A 12A 11P* 10P* 9P* 8P*
07 3A 2A 1A 12A 11P* 10P* 9P*
08 4A 3A 2A 1A 12A 11P* 10P*
09 5A 4A 3A 2A 1A 12A 11P*
10 6A 5A 4A 3A 2A 1A 12A
11 7A 6A 5A 4A 3A 2A 1A
12 8A 7A 6A 5A 4A 3A 2A
13 9A 8A 7A 6A 5A 4A 3A
14 10A 9A 8A 7A 6A 5A 4A
15 11A 10A 9A 8A 7A 6A 5A
16 12P 11A 10A 9A 8A 7A 6A
17 1P 12P 11A 10A 9A 8A 7A
18 2P 1P 12P 11A 10A 9A 8A
19 3P 2P 1P 12P 11A 10A 9A
20 4P 3P 2P 1P 12P 11A 10A
21 5P 4P 3P 2P 1P 12P 11A
22 6P 5P 4P 3P 2P 1P 12P
23 7P 6P 5P 4P 3P 2P 1P
* represents previous day
(i.e. 03 hours 23 January 93 is 8PM-MST 22 January)
Summertime (Daylight savings time) for those states that observe daylight savings time. For those that do not, use the standard time table all year:
<span> GMT EDT CDT MDT PDT
difference -4 -5 -6 -7
00 8P* 7P* 6P* 5P*
01 9P* 8P* 7P* 6P*
02 10P* 9P* 8P* 7P*
03 11P* 10P* 9P* 8P*
04 12A 11P* 10P* 9P*
05 1A 12A 11P* 10P*
06 2A 1A 12A 11P*
07 3A 2A 1A 12A
08 4A 3A 2A 1A
09 5A 4A 3A 2A
10 6A 5A 4A 3A
11 7A 6A 5A 4A
12 8A 7A 6A 5A
13 9A 8A 7A 6A
14 10A 9A 8A 7A
15 11A 10A 9A 8A
16 12P 11A 10A 9A
17 1P 12P 11A 10A
18 2P 1P 12P 11A
19 3P 2P 1P 12P
20 4P 3P 2P 1P
21 5P 4P 3P 2P
22 6P 5P 4P 3P
23 7P 6P 5P 4P
* represents previous day
(i.e. 03 hours 23 June is 9PM-MDT 22 June)</span>