Eastern Standard Time in Autumn-Winter is 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time .
Places that use Eastern Standard Time ( EST ) when observing standard time ( autumn/winter ) are 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−05:00 ) .Eastern Daylight Time ( EDT ) , when observing daylight saving time ( spring/summer ) , is 4 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−04:00 ) .In the northern parts of the time zone , on the second Sunday in March , at 2:00 a.m. EST , clocks are advanced to 3:00 a.m. EDT leaving a one-hour `` gap '' .
Eastern Time Zone