Alaska Standard Time (AKST) or UTC/GMT -9

Time Zones in the USA.

The standard time followed in the Alaska Time Zone is minus nine hours from Greenwich Mean Time (UTC/GMT -9). During daylight saving time its time offset is minus eight hours (UTC/GMT -8). The time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 135th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory.

The Alaska Time Zone is one hour behind the Pacific Time Zone.
standard time: Alaska Standard Time (AKST)
daylight saving time: Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT)

Effective since 2007, the local time changes from AKST to AKDT at 02:00 LST to 03:00 LDT on the second Sunday in March and returns at 02:00 LDT to 01:00 LST on the first Sunday in November.

Alaska Is Divided Into Two Time Zones

Alaska's land area compared to the 48 contiguous U.S. states.

The western Aleutian Islands observe Hawaii-Aleutian Time, which is one hour behind the remainder of the state.

Alaska is the largest state in the U.S. and it is larger than all but 18 countries of the world, and about 1/5 of the total land area of the 48 contiguous states.

The territory of the state of Alaska spans almost as much longitude as the continental United States, so the use of two time zones will inevitably lead to some distortions. According to the width of Alaska the state would fall into four time zones, but political considerations have led to the use of two.

Daylight Saving Time Information

Beginning and end dates of the daylight saving time in the United States and in Canada.

North American Time Zones

The time zones in North America, in the west from Hawaii and Alaska to the east cost of USA and Canada and all the way to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

GMT and UTC

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. GMT and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) can be seen equivalent when fractions of a second are not important.