Pacific Time Zone

This article is about the time zone with daylight change in North America. For the static time zones, see UTC−08:00 and UTC−07:00. For the radio show, see Pacific Time (radio show). For the art exhibition, see Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945–1980.

Pacific Time Zone
Pacific Time Zone
UTC offset
PST	UTC−08:00
PDT	UTC−07:00
Current time
09:12, 1 January 2020 PST [refresh]
Observance of DST
DST is observed throughout this time zone.

The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−08:00). During daylight saving time, a time offset of UTC−07:00 is used.

In the United States and Canada, this time zone is generically called the "Pacific Time Zone". Specifically, time in this zone is referred to as "Pacific Standard Time" (PST) when standard time is being observed (early November to mid-March), and "Pacific Daylight Time" (PDT) when daylight saving time (mid-March to early November) is being observed. In Mexico, the corresponding time zone is known as the Zona Noroeste (Northwest Zone) and observes the same daylight saving schedule as the U.S. and Canada.

The largest city in the Pacific Time Zone is Los Angeles; the Los Angeles metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the zone.

The zone is two hours ahead of the Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone, one hour ahead of the Alaska Time Zone, one hour behind the Mountain Time Zone, two hours behind the Central Time Zone, three hours behind the Eastern Time Zone, and four hours behind the Atlantic Time Zone.

Canada

Main article: Time in Canada

Only one Canadian territory is entirely in the Pacific Time Zone:

• Yukon

One Canadian province and one territory are split between the Pacific Time Zone and the Mountain Time Zone:

• British Columbia – all, except for the Highway 95 corridor (including Golden and Creston) in the southeast, and Tumbler Ridge, Fort St. John, and Dawson Creek in the northeast
• Northwest Territories – Tungsten

Mexico

Main article: Time in Mexico

In Mexico, the Zona Noroeste, which corresponds to Pacific Time in the United States and Canada, includes:

• Baja California

United States

Main article: Time in the United States

Two states are fully contained in the Pacific Time Zone:

• California
• Washington

Three states are split between the Pacific Time Zone and the Mountain Time Zone:

• Idaho – Idaho Panhandle
• Nevada – all, except for West Wendover and unofficially in several towns along Idaho border
• Oregon – all, except for the majority of Malheur County

One state is split between the Pacific Time Zone and the Alaska Time Zone:

• Alaska – Hyder

Daylight time

Through 2006, the local time (PST, UTC−08:00) changed to daylight time (PDT, UTC−07:00) at 02:00 LST (local standard time) to 03:00 LDT (local daylight time) on the first Sunday in April, and returned at 02:00 LDT to 01:00 LST on the last Sunday in October.

Effective in the U.S. in 2007 as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the local time changes from PST to PDT at 02:00 LST to 03:00 LDT on the second Sunday in March and the time returns at 02:00 LDT to 01:00 LST on the first Sunday in November. The Canadian provinces and territories that use daylight time each adopted these dates between October 2005 and February 2007. In Mexico, beginning in 2010, the portion of the country in this time zone uses the extended dates, as do some other parts. The vast majority of Mexico, however, still uses the old dates.

See also

• Effects of time zones on North American broadcasting

External links

• The Official NIST US Time
• Official times across Canada
• World time zone map
• U.S. time zone map
• History of U.S. time zones and UTC conversion
• Canada time zone map
• Time zones for major world cities