Time in Mexico
| Winter | Summer (DST) | Spanish name | English name | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UTC−06:00 | UTC−05:00 | Zona Central | Central Time | |
| UTC−07:00 | Zona Pacífico | Mountain Time | ||
| UTC−07:00 | UTC−06:00 | Zona Pacífico | Mountain Time | |
| UTC−08:00 | UTC−07:00 | Zona Noroeste | Pacific Time | |
Mexico uses three different UTC offsets as defined in the federal Law of Time Systems:[1]
- Zone 1 (Central Zone) covers most of Mexico and is equivalent to UTC-06:00 (the equivalent of Canadian and U.S. Central Time Zone).
- Zone 2 (Pacific Zone) covers the states of Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Nayarit, Sinaloa, and Sonora, which use UTC-07:00 (the equivalent of Canadian and U.S. Mountain Time Zone).
- Zone 3 (Northwest Zone) covers the state of Baja California and uses UTC-08:00 (the equivalent of Canadian and U.S. Pacific Time Zone).
In addition, the law dictates that all island territories should fall within the time zone corresponding to their geographic location.
Contents |
[edit] History
In 1930 three zones are decreed [2]:
- "Hora del Golfo", con meridiano 90°;
- "Hora del Centro", meridiano 105°
- "Hora del Oeste", correspondiente al meridiano 120°.
[edit] Daylight saving time
First observation of DST was in 1931 [3].
Daylight saving time (horario estacional in Spanish as referred to in the law, but horario de verano in colloquial speech) has been observed in Mexico beginning in 1996.[4] Except for Baja California, [5] it does not coincide with the longer extended daylight saving period adopted for 2007 in the United States. Rather, the law dictates that daylight saving time be observed between 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in April through 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October.[6]
As the United States now starts DST on the second Sunday in March and ends it on the first Sunday in November, Mexico's time zones are now out of synchronization with the United States' Pacific, Mountain, and Central time zones for two periods each year, during which Mexico City clocks match those in Denver instead of those in Chicago. The first is the three or four weeks between the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in April. The second is the single week between the last Sunday in October and the first Sunday in November. The Mexican Stock Exchange changes its hours during these periods in order to maintain synchronization with the U.S. markets.
In 1998 the state of Chihuahua moved from Central time to Mountain time.[7] Later in 2001 Mexico experimented with a shorter daylight saving period from the first Sunday in May till the last Sunday in September.[8] The areas that border the United States began observing DST on the US schedule in 2010. [9]
Daylight saving time is observed in all parts of the country except for the state of Sonora, which decided to remain on standard time beginning in 1999[10] to coincide with the non-observation in Arizona, with which Sonora shares its northern border. The island territories do not currently observe daylight time either. During DST period, Mexico uses 4 different time zones.
In Baja California daylight saving time has been observed for several decades and until 1996 was the only Mexican state to observe DST.
[edit] tz database
Data for Mexico from zone.tab in the tz database. Columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself.
| c.c.* | coordinates* | TZ* | comments* | UTC offset | UTC offset DST | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MX | +1924-09909 | America/Mexico_City | Central Time - most locations | -06:00 | UTC-05:00 | |
| MX | +2105-08646 | America/Cancun | Central Time - Quintana Roo | -06:00 | UTC-05:00 | |
| MX | +2058-08937 | America/Merida | Central Time - Campeche, Yucatan | -06:00 | UTC-05:00 | |
| MX | +2540-10019 | America/Monterrey | Mexican Central Time - Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas away from US border | -06:00 | UTC-05:00 | |
| MX | +2550-09730 | America/Matamoros | US Central Time - Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas near US border | -06:00 | UTC-05:00 | |
| MX | +2313-10625 | America/Mazatlan | Mountain Time - S Baja, Nayarit, Sinaloa | -07:00 | UTC-06:00 | |
| MX | +2838-10605 | America/Chihuahua | Mexican Mountain Time - Chihuahua away from US border | -07:00 | UTC-06:00 | |
| MX | +2934-10425 | America/Ojinaga | US Mountain Time - Chihuahua near US border | -07:00 | UTC-06:00 | |
| MX | +2904-11058 | America/Hermosillo | Mountain Standard Time - Sonora | -07:00 | - | |
| MX | +3232-11701 | America/Tijuana | US Pacific Time - Baja California near US border | -08:00 | UTC-07:00 | |
| MX | +3018-11452 | America/Santa_Isabel | Mexican Pacific Time - Baja California away from US border | -08:00 | UTC-07:00 | |
| MX | +2048-10515 | America/Bahia_Banderas | Mexican Central Time - Bahia de Banderas | -06:00 | ? |
On 2010-01-06 a zone America/Ensenada named for Ensenada, Baja California was scheduled for inclusion with the comment "Split off Mexican cities (near US border) that are to follow US rules starting in 2010. Tijuana splits into Tijuana and Ensenada." [11]
[edit] References
- ^ National Commission for the Conservation of Energy [1]
- ^ http://www.conuee.gob.mx/wb/CONAE/antecedentes_mexico
- ^ http://www.conuee.gob.mx/wb/CONAE/antecedentes_mexico
- ^ Mexico City time changes in 1996 [2]
- ^ http://timeanddate.com/time/dst2010.html
- ^ National Commission for the Conservation of Energy [3]
- ^ Chihuahua time changes in 1998[4]
- ^ Mexico City time changes in 2001 [5]
- ^ Northern Mexican Border's New Daylight Saving Plan [6]
- ^ Hermosillo time changes in 1999 [7]
- ^ http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.tz/3062
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