Every Time Zone Converter (2024)

FAQs

How are there 26 time zones? ›

So, if it's Noon in the West, its 2 p.m. in the East, and the calendar date is the same in all three island groups. This was a sensible arrangement for Kiribati, given the circ*mstances, but it did create the oddity of plus 13 and plus 14 hour time zones, making a world total of 26 hourly time zones, instead of 24.

Time zones and time differences

There are 24 regions (Time Zones) around the world with a time difference of one hour. This system has been adopted internationally by setting the total time difference around the world as 24 hours. Further, Daylight Saving Time (DST) is individually adopted in countries and regions.

By about 1900, almost all inhabited places on Earth had adopted one or another standard time zone, but only some of these used an hourly offset from GMT. It took many decades before all time zones were based on some "standard offset" from GMT/UTC. Today, there are 37 different local times in use.

None if you compare time with all the USA 50 States. American Samoa is the only contender for the comparison year round and Kiribati, Tonga as well New Zealand (for Tokelau) are all 24 hours ahead of American Samoa all year round.

Other nations, such as Nepal, use quarter-hour deviations. This means that there are approximately 40 time zones rather than 24.

None of the 50 US states have three time zones. However, there are some states with two time zones. These are: Alaska (Alaska and Hawaii-Aleutian)

In Russia, there are eleven time zones with current times ranging from UTC+02:00 to UTC+12:00. Since October 26, 2014, Russia has not used daylight saving time (DST). Permanent DST was used from March 27, 2011 to October 26, 2014.

China has one time zone. It is officially called China Standard Time (CST). It is 8 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+08:00). There is no daylight saving time.

So why are some cities 30 or 45 minutes off? That has largely to do with the politics in each of those places. For example, in New Delhi, India, they found themselves halfway between two meridians, and therefore decided to be 30 minutes between each, as opposed to adopting one time or the other.

What is the biggest time difference in the world? ›

You can see that the most extreme time zones are +14 hours at Line Islands (Kiribati), and -12 hours in and around Baker Islands (US). Therefore, the maximum possible difference between times on Earth is 26 hours. That means that at 11:00 PM of a Monday in Baker Island, it is 1:00 AM of a Wednesday in Line Islands.

Sir Sanford Fleming, who worked as an engineer for Canadian railways, knew this problem firsthand when he missed a train in 1876. This experience gave him the idea for a standard time, with hourly variations according to different zones around the world.

A date in July, when Daylight Savings Time is in effect, would have a time zone offset of –420, or seven hours, since Daylight Savings Time moves clocks one hour forward, or closer, to GMT. In Windows, the locale is determined by the Time Zone setting in each system's Date/Time properties.

For any given date, the latest place on Earth where it would be valid is on Howland and Baker Islands, in the IDLW time zone (the Western Hemisphere side of the International Date Line). Therefore, the day ends AoE when it ends on Howland Island.

Although there are practical and economic advantages to a single time zone, the impetus for standardisation was more about a signal the Chinese Communist Party wanted to send when it came to power in 1949.

Other nations adopted systems that change time zones by smaller increments, like 15 or 30 minutes. For that reason, there are more time zones than the standard 24 in use today.

In 1883, American and Canadian railroads began using four different time zones across the continent, and in 1884, Fleming helped to convene the International Prime Meridian Conference, where standard time and time zones were made official.

China has one time zone. It is officially called China Standard Time (CST). It is 8 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+08:00).

While rotating around its axis, every 60 minutes, the Earth moves about 15 degrees. Thus, after 24 hours (one day), it completes a full rotation of 360 degrees. Based on this concept, the Earth was divided into 24 time zones, and each would be 15 degrees of longitude wide.