The
Eastern Time Zone
(
ET
) is a
time zone
encompassing part or all of 23
states
in the eastern part of the
United States
, parts of eastern
Canada
, and the state of
Quintana Roo
in
Mexico
.
Places that use:
On the second Sunday in March, at 2:00?a.m. EST, clocks are advanced to 3:00?a.m. EDT leaving a one-hour gap. On the first Sunday in November, at 2:00?a.m. EDT, clocks are moved back to 1:00?a.m. EST, which results in one hour being duplicated.
Jamaica
,
Panama
, and
Colombia
do not observe
DST
.
The boundaries of the Eastern Time Zone have moved westward since the
Interstate Commerce Commission
(ICC) took over time-zone management from railroads in 1938. The easternmost and northernmost counties in
Kentucky
were added to the zone in the 1940s, and in 1961 most of the state went Eastern. In 2000,
Wayne County
, on the
Tennessee
border, switched from Central to Eastern Time.
[1]
Within the United States, the Eastern Time Zone is the most populous region, with nearly half of the country's population.
In March 2019, the
Florida Legislature
passed a bill requesting authorization from
Congress
for year-round daylight saving time, which would effectively put
Florida
on
Atlantic Standard Time
year-round (except for west of the
Apalachicola River
, which would be on Eastern Standard Time year-round).
[2]
A similar bill was proposed for the
Canadian province
of
Ontario
by
its legislative assembly
in late 2020, which would have a similar effect on the province if passed.
[3]
Daylight saving time
edit
For those in the United States, daylight saving time for the Eastern Time Zone was introduced by the
Uniform Time Act
of 1966, which specified that daylight saving time would run from the last Sunday of April until the last Sunday in October.
[4]
The act was amended to make the first Sunday in April the beginning of daylight saving time beginning in 1987.
[4]
Later, the
Energy Policy Act of 2005
extended daylight saving time in the United States, beginning in 2007. Since then, local times change at 2:00?a.m. EST to 3:00?a.m. EDT on the second Sunday in March, and return from 2:00?a.m. EDT to 1:00?a.m. EST on the first Sunday in November.
[4]
In Canada, daylight saving time begins and ends on the same days and at the same times as it does in the United States.
[5]
[6]
In
Canada
, the following
provinces and territories
are part of the Eastern Time Zone:
[7]
Within Canada, as with the United States, the Eastern Time Zone is the most populous time zone.
Most of Canada observes daylight saving time synchronously with the United States, with the exception of
Saskatchewan
,
Yukon
,
[8]
and several other very localized areas. None of those areas are in the Eastern Time Zone.
The boundary between time zones is set forth in the
Code of Federal Regulations
, with the boundary between the Eastern and
Central Time Zones
being specifically detailed in 49 C.F.R. part 71.
[9]
Washington, D.C.
, and 17 states are located entirely within the Eastern Time Zone. They are:
Five states are divided between the Eastern Time Zone and the
Central Time Zone
. The following locations observe Eastern Time:
- Florida
: The majority of the state, including
Big Bend
regions east of the
Apalachicola River
and portions of
Gulf County
south of the
Intracoastal Waterway
- Indiana
: The majority of the state, except
Northwest Indiana
and the
Evansville metropolitan area
.
- Kentucky
: The eastern portion of the state, including its three largest metropolitan areas:
Louisville
,
Lexington
, and
Northern Kentucky
- Michigan
: The entire state except for the four
Upper Peninsula
counties that border
Wisconsin
:
Gogebic
,
Iron
,
Dickinson
, and
Menominee
- Tennessee
: All of
East Tennessee
including the major cities of
Chattanooga
and
Knoxville
and the town of
Kingsport
, with the exception of
Bledsoe
,
Cumberland
, and
Marion
counties
[10]
Additionally,
Phenix City, Alabama
, and several nearby communities in
Russell County, Alabama
, unofficially observe Eastern Time.
[11]
This is due to their close proximity to
Columbus, Georgia
, which is on Eastern Time. In addition Smiths Station in Lee County along with Valley and Lanett in Chambers county honor Eastern Time.
[12]
- Quintana Roo
: This is the only Mexican state to observe EST. It moved from Central Time to Eastern Time after a successful lobbying effort by tourism interests.
[13]
Quintana Roo does not observe daylight saving time.
The
Bahamas
and
Haiti
officially observe both Eastern Standard Time during the winter months and Eastern Daylight Time during the summer months. Cuba generally follows the U.S. with Eastern Standard Time in the winter, and Eastern Daylight Time in the summer, but the exact day of change varies year to year. The
Cayman Islands
and
Jamaica
use Eastern Standard Time year-round.
[
citation needed
]
Turks and Caicos Islands
edit
The
Turks and Caicos
Islands followed Eastern Time with daylight saving until 2015, when the territory switched to the
Atlantic Time Zone
. The Turks and Caicos Islands switched back to the pre-2015 schedule in March 2018.
[14]
A 2017 consultation paper highlighted the advantage for business and tourism of being in the same time zone as the
eastern United States
as an important factor in the decision.
[15]
- ^
"Why Louisville?"
.
Louisville magazine
. Archived from
the original
on July 20, 2018
. Retrieved
February 10,
2018
.
- ^
Klas, Mary Ellen (March 6, 2018).
"Legislature approves year-round daylight saving time?but it's not a done deal yet"
.
Miami Herald
. Retrieved
March 30,
2018
.
- ^
Patton, Jessica (October 7, 2020).
"Ontario MPP puts forward bill to make Daylight Saving Time standard time"
.
Global News
. Retrieved
October 9,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
Prerau, David (2006).
"Early adoption and U.S. Law"
.
Daylight Saving Time
. Web Exhibit
. Retrieved
April 23,
2007
.
- ^
Law, Gwillim (September 21, 2007).
"United States Time Zones"
.
- ^
"Daylight Saving Time Starts Sunday"
. Government of Ontario. March 7, 2008
. Retrieved
September 21,
2010
.
- ^
"Time zones and daylight saving time"
.
nrc.canada.ca
. National Research Council Canada. March 23, 2019
. Retrieved
March 7,
2020
.
- ^
"Yukon to end seasonal time change"
.
yukon.ca
. March 4, 2020
. Retrieved
May 13,
2022
.
- ^
The specification for the Eastern Time Zone is set forth at 49 C.F.R. § 71.4, and is listed in
text
Archived
January 13, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
and
PDF
Archived
January 14, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
formats. The boundary between Eastern and Central is set forth at 49 C.F.R. § 71.5, and is listed in
text
and
PDF
Archived
January 13, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
formats.
- ^
McDearman, Brian (August 13, 2006).
"Parts of Eastern Alabama split between 2 time zones"
.
Decatur Daily
. AP. Archived from
the original
on March 10, 2016
. Retrieved
March 22,
2009
.
- ^
Emily.
"Our Community"
.
Phenix City, Alabama
. Retrieved
January 10,
2022
.
- ^
https://www.al.com/living/2017/02/do_you_know_which_alabama_town.html
- ^
"On Mexican Time: Changing Time Zones To Accommodate Tourism"
.
Forbes
. Retrieved
January 29,
2015
.
- ^
"DST Dates Confirmed"
. Timeanddate.com. July 25, 2017
. Retrieved
January 10,
2019
.
- ^
"Consultation paper Daylight Saving"
(PDF)
. April 2017. pp.?6?7. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on January 10, 2019
. Retrieved
January 10,
2019
.