Even though the Pacific time zone is only used in individual regions of three countries, it is known worldwide due to the large metropolitan areas on the American west coast. It runs along the Pacific coast from Vancouver in Canada to Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Baja California in Mexico.
Pacific Standard Time (PST) is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time on the Atlantic coast, 9 hours behind Central European Standard Time and a full 18 hours behind Sydney.
All three regions change in the summer at the same time to Pacific Daylight Time.
Since 2007, the changeover in the USA and Canada always takes place on the second Sunday in March to daylight saving time (PDT). On the first Sunday in November, it goes back one hour to standard time (PST). Compared to the previous arrangement, daylight saving time thus starts about two weeks earlier and ends one week earlier - so it's also 1 week longer. In Mexico's Pacific Time area, these dates have only been in effect since 2010, though the rest of Mexico uses different dates for the remaining time zones.
Unification also tests the geographic extent of the Pacific time zone. While the two US states of Washington and California are fully part of Pacific Time, this is no longer true for Alaska, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon. There, 2 time zones prevail within the same states. Also the Baja California, thus the Mexican peninsula belongs only with its northern half to the PST.
Canadian Yukon changed in the year 2020 from the PST to the "Mountain Time" (MST), to be one hour closer to the rest of the country. It's worth noting that Yukon is in the far west of Canada. Even the easternmost tip of the territory is even further west than Tijuana in Baja California.
Countries with PST time
Pacific Standard Time applies to the following countries:
The time zones and times listed here are based on the IANA "Olsen" time zone database. Designations and their translations were adapted separately. Version used and update: Version 2024.1 on 04/24/2024.
It runs along the Pacific coast from Vancouver in Canada to Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Baja California in Mexico. Pacific Standard Time (PST) is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time on the Atlantic coast, 9 hours behind Central European Standard Time and a full 18 hours behind Sydney.
North America: PST is currently not observed because locations are on summer time / daylight saving time and are observing PDT. No locations currently on PST. Observes PST part of the year.
California operates in the Pacific Time Zone (PT), which alternates between Pacific Standard Time (PST) and Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) depending on the time of year and observance of Daylight Saving Time.
Most of Oregon lies in the Pacific Time Zone (shown in blue), except for the northern part of Malheur County (shown in purple), which is in the Mountain Time Zone. Drewsey in Harney County is officially in the Pacific Time Zone, but some residents unofficially observe Mountain Time due to proximity to Malheur County.
PDT or PST? Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) is a North American time zone in use from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November during Daylight Saving Time (DST). Pacific Standard Time (PST) is used during the remainder of the year.
So, the time zone three hours behind California is UTC -11, which affects American Samoa (Pago Pago), Jarvis Island, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Niue (Alofi), and Palmyra Atoll (to name a few).
UTC is 8 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time (e.g., 0000 UTC is 1600 PST the previous day, while 1200 UTC is 0400 PST the same day), and 7 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time (e.g., 0000 UTC is 1700 PDT the previous day, while 1200 UTC is 0500 PDT the same day).
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