What In The World Time Is It Anyway?
Many of the graphics on WVIC.COM use times labeled GMT, UTC, or Z. You've probably noticed that none of these times seem to match your local time.
To avoid the confusion caused by all the time zones around the world and changes between standard time and daily savings time, most scientists use the twenty four hour clock and only one time zone, Greenwich Mean Time or GMT.
GMT time is the current time measured on the Prime Meridian (0 degrees longitude). The Prime Meridian runs through Greenwich, England, hence the name Greenwich Mean Time or GMT.
Just to make matters a little more confusing, other people have decided to use the names Z or Zulu and UTC or Universal Time Coordinates instead of GMT. GMT, Z, and UTC all mean the same thing, the current time at the Prime Meridian.
In the US, you can convert from GMT, Z, or UTC to your local time by using the following table:
| If your time zone is: | Subtract this many hours to get your current time | Formula |
| Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) | 4 | GMT - 4 hours = EDT |
| Eastern Standard Time (EST) | 5 | GMT - 5 hours = EST |
| Central Daylight Time (CDT) | 5 | GMT - 5 hours = CDT |
| Central Standard Time (CST) | 6 | GMT - 6 hours = CST |
| Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) | 6 | GMT - 6 hours = MDT |
| Mountain Standard Time (MST) | 7 | GMT - 7 hours = MST |
| Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) | 7 | GMT - 7 hours = PDT |
| Pacific Standard Time (PST) | 8 | GMT - 8 hours = PST |