Central Time Zone - wikipedia Central Time Zone This article is about the time zone in North America. For other uses, see Central Standard Time ( disambiguation ). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( August 2014 ) Central Time Zone ( North America ) Regions in the Central Time Zone prior to 2015 ( Quintana Roo is now in the Eastern Time Zone ) UTC offset CST UTC − 6 : 00 CDT UTC − 5 : 00 Current time ( Refresh the clock. ) CST 11 : 06 pm on Dec 19, 2017 Observance of DST DST is observed in certain regions of this time zone between the 2nd Sunday in March and the 1st Sunday in November. DST ended Nov 5, 2017 DST begins Mar 11, 2018 The North American Central Time Zone ( CT ) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time ( CST ) is six hours behind Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC ). During summer most ( but not all ) of the zone uses daylight saving time ( DST ), and changes to Central Daylight Time ( CDT ) which is five hours behind UTC. Contents 1 Regions using ( North American ) Central Time 1.1 Canada 1.2 United States 1.3 Mexico 1.4 Central America and Caribbean Islands 1.5 Eastern Pacific islands and other areas 2 Central Daylight Time 3 Alphabetical list of major Central Time Zone metropolitan areas 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Regions using ( North American ) Central Time Canada Main article : Time in Canada The province of Manitoba is the only province or territory in Canada that observes Central Time in all areas. The following Canadian provinces and territories observe Central Time in the areas noted, while their other areas observe Eastern Time : Nunavut ( territory ) : western areas ( most of Kivalliq Region and part of Qikiqtaaluk Region ) Ontario ( province ) : a portion of the northwest bordering southeastern Manitoba, in and around Kenora. Also, most of the province of Saskatchewan is on Central Standard Time year - round, never adjusting for Daylight Saving Time. Major exceptions include Lloydminster, a city situated on the boundary between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city charter stipulates that it shall observe Mountain Time and DST, putting the community on the same time as all of Alberta, including the major cities of Calgary and Edmonton. As a result, during the summer, clocks in the entire province match those in Alberta, but during the winter, clocks in most of the province match those in Manitoba. United states Main article : Time in the United States Nine states are contained entirely in the Central Time Zone : Alabama Arkansas Illinois Iowa Louisiana Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Wisconsin Note : Although all of Alabama is legally on Central Time, Phenix City and some of the nearby community of Smiths Station unofficially observe Eastern Time, as these areas are part of the metropolitan area of the considerably larger city of Columbus, Georgia in the Eastern Time Zone. Lanett and Valley observe Eastern Time historically because they were textile mill towns and the original home office of their mills was in West Point, Georgia. Seven states are split between the Central Time Zone and the Mountain Time Zone : Kansas - all, except for Sherman, Wallace, Greeley, and Hamilton counties Nebraska - eastern two thirds New Mexico - Nara Visa North Dakota - all, except for southwest regions Oklahoma - all, except for Kenton South Dakota - eastern half Texas - all, except for El Paso and Hudspeth counties Five states are split between the Central Time Zone and the Eastern Time Zone : Florida - Florida Panhandle on Alabama border Indiana - northwest and southwest regions Kentucky - western half Michigan - Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson, and Menominee counties Tennessee - West Tennessee and Middle Tennessee Mexico Main article : Time in Mexico Most of Mexico -- roughly the eastern three - fourths -- lies in the Central Time Zone, except for six northwestern states ( Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Sonora, and * most of Nayarit ) and one southeastern state ( Quintana Roo ). The federal entities of Mexico that observe Central Time : Aguascalientes Campeche Coahuila Colima - except for the Revillagigedo Islands, in which the inner islands use Mountain Time and the outer island uses Pacific Time Chiapas Durango Guanajuato Guerrero Hidalgo Jalisco Mexico City Michoacán Morelos Nayarit - * only the municipality of Bahía de Banderas, rest of the state uses Mountain Time Nuevo León Oaxaca Puebla Querétaro San Luis Potosí State of Mexico Tabasco Tamaulipas Tlaxcala Veracruz Yucatán Zacatecas Central America and Caribbean Islands Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Jamaica all use Central Standard Time year - round. Eastern Pacific Islands and other areas The Galápagos Islands in Ecuador uses Central Standard Time all year - round ; the remainder of Ecuador uses Eastern Standard Time. Both Easter Island and Salas y Gómez Island in Chile uses Central Standard Time during the Southern Hemisphere winter and Central Daylight Time during the Southern Hemisphere summer ; the remainder of Chile uses Atlantic Standard Time and Atlantic Daylight Time. Central daylight Time Daylight saving time ( DST ) is in effect in much of the Central time zone between mid-March and early November. The modified time is called Central Daylight Time ( CDT ) and is UTC − 5. In Canada, Saskatchewan does not observe a time change. One reason that Saskatchewan does not take part in a time change is that, geographically, the entire province is closer to the Mountain Time Zone 's meridian. The province elected to move onto `` permanent '' daylight saving by being part of the Central Time Zone. The only exception is the region immediately surrounding the Saskatchewan side of the biprovincial city of Lloydminster, which has chosen to use Mountain Time with DST, synchronizing its clocks with those of Alberta. In those areas of the Canadian and American time zones that observe DST, beginning in 2007, the local time changes at 02 : 00 local standard time to 03 : 00 local daylight time on the second Sunday in March and returns at 02 : 00 local daylight time to 01 : 00 local standard time on the first Sunday in November. Mexico decided not to go along with this change and observes their horario de verano from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In December 2009, the Mexican Congress allowed ten border cities, eight of which are in states that observe Central Time, to adopt the U.S. daylight time schedule effective in 2010. Alphabetical list of major Central Time Zone metropolitan areas Acapulco, Guerrero Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes Amarillo, Texas Antigua Guatemala Arlington, Texas Austin, Texas Baton Rouge, Louisiana Beaumont / Port Arthur, Texas Birmingham, Alabama Bismarck, North Dakota Bloomington, Illinois Bowling Green, Kentucky Cedar Rapids, Iowa Champaign, Illinois Chicago, Illinois Clarksville, Tennessee Comarca Lagunera ( Torreón, Gómez Palacio, Lerdo ) Columbia, Missouri Cookeville, Tennessee Cuernavaca, Morelos Dallas - Fort Worth, Texas Des Moines, Iowa Enid, Oklahoma Evansville, Indiana Fargo, North Dakota Fort Walton Beach, Florida Gary, Indiana Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Rapids, Manitoba Green Bay, Wisconsin Guadalajara, Jalisco Guatemala City, Guatemala Hammond, Indiana Houston, Texas Huntsville, Alabama Iowa City, Iowa Iron Mountain, Michigan Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, Tennessee Janesville, Wisconsin Joplin, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri - Kansas Kenosha, Wisconsin Lafayette, Louisiana Lawton, Oklahoma León, Guanajuato Lincoln, Nebraska Little Rock, Arkansas Lubbock, Texas Madison, Wisconsin Managua, Nicaragua Memphis, Tennessee Mérida, Yucatán Mexico City Midland / Odessa, Texas Milwaukee, Wisconsin Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota Minot, North Dakota Mobile, Alabama Monterrey, Nuevo León Montgomery, Alabama Nashville, Tennessee New Orleans Normal, Illinois Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Omaha, Nebraska Panama City, Florida Pensacola, Florida Peoria, Illinois Puebla City Quad Cities, Iowa / Illinois Racine, Wisconsin Red Lake, Ontario Regina, Saskatchewan Rockford, Illinois Sioux Falls, South Dakota St. Louis, Missouri San Antonio, Texas San José, Costa Rica San Luis Potosí City San Pedro Sula, Honduras San Salvador, El Salvador Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Shreveport -- Bossier City, Louisiana Springfield, Missouri Tampico, Tamaulipas Tegucigalpa, Honduras Thompson, Manitoba Toluca, Estado de México Topeka, Kansas Tulsa, Oklahoma Waukegan, Illinois Wheaton, Illinois Wichita, Kansas Wichita Falls, Texas Winnipeg, Manitoba Zacatecas, Zacatecas See also Effects of time zones on North American broadcasting References Jump up ^ http://archive.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060813/zones.shtml External links World time zone map History of U.S. time zones and UTC conversion The official U.S. time for the Central Time Zone ( dead link ) Cities in CST Official times across Canada Time zones in North America Time zone Hours from UTC : Standard time Hours from UTC : Daylight saving time Hawaii -- Aleutian ( in Hawaii ) -- 10 -- 10 Hawaii -- Aleutian ( in Alaska ) -- 10 -- 9 Alaska -- 9 -- 8 Pacific -- 8 -- 7 Mountain ( Arizona and Sonora only ) -- 7 -- 7 Mountain ( other states ) -- 7 -- 6 Central ( Saskatchewan only ) -- 6 -- 6 Central ( other states ) -- 6 -- 5 Eastern ( Southampton Island, Atikokan and New Osnaburgh / Pickle Lake only ) -- 5 -- 5 Eastern ( other states ) -- 5 -- 4 Atlantic ( Natashquan River ) -- 4 -- 4 Atlantic ( other states ) -- 4 -- 3 Newfoundland -- 3 : 30 -- 2 : 30 Saint Pierre and Miquelon and most of Greenland -- 3 -- 2 See also Time in Canada Time in Denmark Time in Mexico Time in the United States Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Central_Time_Zone&oldid=816169692 '' Categories : Time zones Time in Canada Time in Mexico Time zones in the United States Hidden categories : Wikipedia indefinitely move - protected pages Articles needing additional references from August 2014 All articles needing additional references Articles containing Spanish - language text Articles with images not understandable by color blind users Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español فارسی Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Македонски Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Simple English Svenska Українська اردو Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 19 December 2017, at 18 : 54. 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Question: when do we switch to central standard time
Answer: summer