Welcome to Sqaico

SQAICO

EST and EDT Time Zones Might Surprise You

If you are like me who lives in the Eastern United States of America, you might struggle to answer the question What is the difference between EST and EDT time zones? This comes a lot in scheduling meetings where the other parties wish to know your time zone and you might be tempted to think both EDT and EST are the same thing, if your answer is yes, then you need to carry on with this Sqaite…

Meeting Joe Anderson

I had interesting conversations with Joe Anderson, #joe_anderson, a professional software engineer working on PlateJs as a consultant and a front-end web developer specializing in user interface design. He is a very collaborative and dedicated team player on the Slatejs Slack channel and has a genuine interest in helping other developers succeed.
When I announced the beta version of Sqaico on Slatejs Slack Channel, Joe volunteered instantly to test it and became one of the pioneering Sqaiters. He provided me with valuable feedback. We immediately started a conversation and concluded that we could learn from one another, so we scheduled our first meeting.
While scheduling the meeting, Joe brought up an interesting misconception I had about the time zones for EDT and EST. I used to think that they were the same thing, but to my disappointment, they are actually two completely different time zones.
And that's what I want to highlight here in this Sqaite today. Let’s start by understanding the two time zones.

EST - Eastern Standard Time?

Eastern Standard Time (EST) is the time zone observed during the fall and winter in the Eastern Time Zone. It is 5 hours behind UTC. For example, when it is 12:00 PM (noon) UTC, it is 7:00 AM EST.

EDT - Eastern Daylight Time?

Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is the time zone observed during the spring and summer in the Eastern Time Zone. It is 4 hours behind UTC. When it is 12:00 PM (noon) UTC, it is 8:00 AM EDT.
Remember 🐘
Not all regions in the Eastern Time Zone observe daylight saving time. In areas that do not observe daylight saving time, they remain on Eastern Standard Time (EST) throughout the year.
For example, parts of Indiana, Kentucky, Florida Tennessee etc observed both ET and CT.

Differences

EDT and EST are two different time zones used in North America. The main difference between EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) and EST (Eastern Standard Time) is their offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) during different parts of the year.

Transition

The transition between Eastern Standard Time and Eastern Daylight Time occurs during daylight saving time changes. In regions that observe daylight saving time, the clocks are moved forward by one hour in spring, usually in March, to start observing EDT. Then in fall, usually in November, the clocks are moved back by one hour to revert to EST.
Privacy and Terms of Use

@2025 Sqaico. All Rights Reserved.