The Enchanting Pacific Time Zone

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Part of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico find themselves in the Pacific Time Zone (PT), a time zone defined as the subtraction of eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−08:00). During daylight saving time, the clock moves forward one hour, creating a difference of one hour from standard time (UTC−07:00).

This time zone is commonly known as the Pacific Time Zone and specific references have Pacific Standard Time (PST) for standard time, which occurs from early November to mid-March, and Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) for daylight saving time between mid-March and early November. Likewise, Mexico calls it the Zona Noroeste (Northwest Zone) and follows the same daylight saving schedule as the U.S and Canada. Los Angeles is the major city in the Pacific Time Zone, followed by its metropolitan area.

Compared to the time in the Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone, the Pacific Time Zone is two hours ahead, one hour ahead of Alaska Time Zone, one hour behind the Mountain Time Zone, two hours less than Central Time Zone, three hours less than Eastern Time Zone, and four hours less than Atlantic Time Zone.

Canada[edit]

Recently, on September 24, 2020, after taking the decision of not observing the daylight saving time anymore, Yukon officially altered its time zone from the Pacific Time Zone to a new one that is "to be reckoned as seven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−7)".

The Pacific Time Zone: Mexico, United States, and Canada

Mexico has the Zona Noroeste, which corresponds to the Pacific Time Zone in the United States and Canada. In the United States, two states are completely within the Pacific Time Zone, while another three states are split between the Pacific Time Zone and the Mountain Time Zone. One state is unofficially split between the Pacific Time Zone, Alaska Time Zone, and the Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone.

Daylight Time Changes

Before 2007, the PST (UTC-08:00) changed to daylight time (PDT, UTC-07:00) from 02:00 LST to 03:00 LDT on the first Sunday in April, and returned from 02:00 LDT to 01:00 LST on the last Sunday in October. These dates changed in 2007 due to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Effective 2007, the time changes from PST to PDT at 02:00 LST to 03:00 LDT on the second Sunday in March. It returns from 02:00 LDT to 01:00 LST on the first Sunday in November. The Canadian provinces and territories that use daylight time adopted these dates between October 2005 and February 2007. While the region within the Navajo Nation observes daylight saving time, Arizona lies entirely within the Mountain Time Zone but aligns with the Pacific Time Zone from mid-March to early November due to this practice.

Related Information

Effects of time zones on North American broadcasting

Notes and References

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