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  Regions in the Central Time Zone

The Central Time Zone consists of a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean that use clocks set five hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time - GMT) during daylight saving time (DST) and six hours behind GMT otherwise.

There is also a Central Time Zone in Australia that covers South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Current time

It's 15:19 (CDT) on 3 May 2012

• Daylight saving time began on March 11
• Daylight saving time will end on November 4

Regions using Central Time

Canada

The province of Manitoba is the only province or territory in Canada that observes Central Time in all areas.

The following Canadian province and territory observe Central Time in the areas noted, while their other areas observe Eastern Time:

• Nunavut (territory): western areas (most of Kivalliq Region and part of Qikiqtaaluk Region)
• Ontario (province): a portion of the northwest bordering northeastern Manitoba

Also, most of the province of Saskatchewan is on Central Standard Time year round. Because Saskatchewan is wholly within the Mountain Time Zone (7.5 degrees on either side of the 105th meridian, which runs through the centre of Sask.) it is effectively on DST year round. Major exceptions include Lloydminster, a town situated on the boundary between Alberta and Saskatchewan; Lloydminster's town charter stipulates that it shall observe Mountain Time and DST, putting the town on the same time as all of Alberta, including the major cities of Calgary and Edmonton.

United States

The Central Time Zone is the second most populous after the Eastern Time Zone. Many states straddle time zone boundaries.

• Alabama

  Although the entire state of Alabama is legally on Central Time, Phenix City and a number of surrounding communities unofficially observe Eastern Time, as Phenix City is part of the media market and metropolitan area of the considerably larger city of Columbus, Georgia (which is in the Eastern Time Zone).^{[citation needed]}

• Arkansas
• Florida: The Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River, bordering on Alabama; the remainder, which is most of the state, is in the Eastern Time Zone
• Illinois
• Indiana: Its southwestern and northwestern corners, bordering on Illinois (see Time in Indiana)
• Iowa
• Kansas: The whole state except for Sherman, Wallace, Greeley and Hamilton Counties, all of which border Colorado
• Kentucky: The western half of the state, west of Louisville
• Louisiana
• Michigan: The far western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, bordering on Wisconsin
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Nebraska: The eastern two-thirds of the state
• North Dakota: The whole entire state except for its southwestern quadrant
• Oklahoma

  Although the entire state of Oklahoma is legally on Central Time, the unincorporated community of Kenton, at the extreme western end of the Oklahoma Panhandle, unofficially observes Mountain Time (as the nearest sizeable towns are located in nearby Colorado and New Mexico, both of which are in the Mountain Time Zone).^{[citation needed]}

• South Dakota: The eastern half of the state
• Tennessee: The western two-thirds of the state: Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee
• Texas: The entire state is in the Central Time Zone except for Hudspeth County and El Paso County in the very far western part.
• Wisconsin

Mexico

Most of Mexico belongs to the Central Time Zone, with six of the northwestern States being exceptions: Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Nayarit, Sinaloa, and Sonora use UTC−7, while Baja California now uses UTC−8.

The states of Mexico that observe Central Time in their entireties:

Mexico City, which is not a state but instead is now coterminous with the separate Federal District (Distrito Federal), also uses Central Time.

The states of Mexico that observe Central Time only in a small part, with another time zone elsewhere.

• Nayarit, where just the municipality of Bahia de Banderas uses Central Time.

Central Daylight Time

Daylight saving time (DST) is in effect in much of Central time zones between mid-March and early November. The modified time is called Central Daylight Time (CDT) and is UTC−5. Saskatchewan, Sonora and Galápagos do not observe the change, remaining on Standard Time year round. One reason that Saskatchewan does not take part in the time change is that, geographically, the entire province is closer to the Mountain Time Zone's meridian. The province elected to move onto "permanent" daylight saving by being part of the Central Time Zone. The only exception is the region immediately surrounding the Saskatchewan side of the biprovincial city of Lloydminster, which has chosen to use Mountain Time with DST, synchronizing its clocks with those of Alberta.

In those areas of the Canadian and American time zones which observe DST, starting in 2007, the local time changes at 02:00 local standard time to 03:00 local daylight time on the second Sunday in March and returns at 02:00 local daylight time to 01:00 local standard time on the first Sunday in November. Mexico decided not to go along with this change and observes their horario de verano from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In December 2009, the Mexican Congress allowed ten border cities, eight of which are in states that observe Central Time, to adopt the U.S. daylight time schedule effective in 2010.

Alphabetical list of cities and metropolitan areas

See also

• Effects of time on North American broadcasting

References

External links

• World time zone map
• History of U.S. time zones and UTC conversion
• The official U.S. time for the Central Time Zone
• Official times across Canada