Current Alaska (AKST/AKDT) Time Now in USA

Alaska Standard and Daylight Time

Alaska observes standard time at nine hours behind UTC (UTC-9), shifting to eight hours behind (UTC-8) during daylight saving time — one hour behind Pacific Time. Standard time in the zone is based on the mean solar time of the 135th meridian west of Greenwich. In the United States, it's generally called Alaska Time, specifically Alaska Standard Time (AKST) during winter and Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT) during daylight saving time. Since 2007, the shift from AKST to AKDT takes place at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday of March, and the shift back to AKST takes place at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of November.

Alaska Is Divided Into Two Time Zones

The western Aleutian Islands actually observe Hawaii-Aleutian Time, one hour behind the rest of the state. Alaska is the largest U.S. state by far — larger than all but 18 countries in the world, and about a fifth of the combined land area of the other 48 states. Its territory spans nearly as much longitude as the entire continental United States, so strictly by geography it would fall into four separate time zones; political considerations settled on two instead.