Time zone (UTC?04:00)
The
Atlantic Time Zone
is a geographical region that keeps standard time?called
Atlantic Standard Time
(
AST
)?by subtracting four hours from Coordinated Universal Time (
UTC
), resulting in
UTC?04:00
. AST is observed in parts of North America and some Caribbean islands. During part of the year, some portions of the zone observe
daylight saving time
, referred to as
Atlantic Daylight Time
(
ADT
), by moving their clocks forward one hour to
UTC?03:00
. The clock time in this zone is based on the
mean solar time
of the
60th meridian west
of the
Greenwich Observatory
.
In Canada, the
provinces
of
New Brunswick
,
[1]
Nova Scotia
,
[2]
and
Prince Edward Island
are in this zone, though legally they calculate time specifically as an offset of four hours from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT?4) rather than from UTC. Small portions of
Quebec
(eastern
Cote-Nord
and the
Magdalen Islands
) also observe Atlantic Time. Officially, the entirety of
Newfoundland and Labrador
observes
Newfoundland Standard Time
,
[3]
but in practice Atlantic Time is used in most of
Labrador
.
No part of the
continental United States
uses Atlantic Time, although it is used by the territories of
Puerto Rico
and the
U.S. Virgin Islands
. In the 2010s, several U.S. states considered legislation to move from the Eastern Time Zone to Atlantic Standard Time. Any changes must be approved by the
United States Department of Transportation
and the
United States Congress
before taking effect.
The United States
National Hurricane Center
's official advisories typically report AST and UTC when tracking storms in the Caribbean that threaten the U.S., which may confuse the mainland public not familiar with the time zone designation.
[4]
Areas covered
[
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]
Caribbean
[
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]
As of 2023, Bermuda is the only Caribbean territory to observe DST.
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Barbados
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- France and French
overseas collectivities
, in the following areas:
- Grenada
- Netherlands and
Dutch special municipalities
, in the following areas:
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United Kingdom (
British Overseas Territories
), in the following areas:
- United States, in the following areas:
North America
[
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]
- Canada, in the following areas:
Additional local areas
[
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]
U.S. states considering a change to Atlantic Standard Time
[
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]
All six of the
New England
states in the northeastern U.S., currently in the Eastern Time Zone (with daylight saving time), have considered legislation to shift to UTC?04:00, equivalent to Atlantic Standard Time (with no observance of daylight saving time) or Eastern Daylight Time. Virtually all of this region is west of the theoretical western border of the zone at 67.5°W; only a small part of
Maine
lies east of that meridian. A
Massachusetts
commission concluded in 2017 that the benefits of changing to Atlantic Standard Time year-round would outweigh the disadvantages, provided that a majority of northeastern states make the same change.
[5]
In May 2017, the
Maine Senate
approved a change to AST, on the condition that there would be a referendum, and that Massachusetts and
New Hampshire
decided to make the same switch.
[6]
Also in 2017, the
New Hampshire House of Representatives
approved a bill in favor of a regional change, but this was voted down by the
state's Senate
.
[7]
Similar bills have been put forward in
Connecticut
,
Rhode Island
, and
Vermont
.
[6]
[8]
In 2018,
Florida
enacted into law the "Sunshine Protection Act", under which the state would observe daylight saving time year-round. Most of the state would permanently keep Eastern Daylight Time, which is equivalent to Atlantic Standard Time; the state's
panhandle
region would move to year-round
Central Daylight Time
/
Eastern Standard Time
.
[9]
[10]
However, the change cannot take effect until it is passed into federal law by the
United States Congress
.
[10]
On March 15, 2022, the
United States Senate
voted unanimously to advance a federal version of the "Sunshine Protection" legislation from Florida, also called the "Sunshine Protection Act", to the
United States House of Representatives
;
[11]
the bill was not brought to a vote in the House.
[12]
A similar bill was introduced in the Senate in 2023.
[13]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"CHAPTER T-6 ? Time Definition Act"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2008-12-07
. Retrieved
2012-09-11
.
- ^
"Time Definition Act"
.
Archived
from the original on 5 June 2008
. Retrieved
2008-06-02
.
- ^
"RSNL1990 CHAPTER S-23 ? STANDARD TIME ACT"
. Retrieved
2007-11-16
.
- ^
"Advisories"
.
National Hurricane Center
.
- ^
"Commission: Massachusetts Should Change Time Zones, But Not On Its Own"
. November 1, 2017
. Retrieved
March 15,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
"Maine Considers Atlantic Standard Time"
.
www.timeanddate.com
. Retrieved
March 15,
2018
.
- ^
"Senate votes down push to switch N.H.'s time zone"
. May 11, 2017
. Retrieved
March 15,
2018
.
- ^
Haigh, Susan (2019-01-15).
"Connecticut bill is latest calling for time zone change"
.
Providence Journal
. Retrieved
2019-09-10
.
In Vermont, Democrat Rep. Samuel Young this year has submitted legislation that would establish year-round Eastern daylight saving time.
- ^
"Should Florida keep Daylight Saving Time all year? It could happen"
.
miamiherald
. Retrieved
2019-03-12
.
- ^
a
b
Lemongello, Steven.
"Florida's year-round daylight saving time law on hold in Congress"
.
OrlandoSentinel.com
. Retrieved
2019-03-12
.
- ^
Palya, Ashley (2022-03-15).
"Turning Back Clocks A Thing Of The Past? Senate Passes Sunshine Protection Act"
.
International Business Times
. Retrieved
2022-03-17
.
- ^
Schnell, Mychael (July 25, 2022).
"Permanent daylight saving time hits brick wall in House"
.
The Hill
.
- ^
Bink, Addy (March 2, 2023).
"Daylight saving time: New bill could stop the clocks from changing"
.
The Hill
.
External links
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]