- How many hours ahead is Eastern Time from Pacific Time?
- 3 hours, almost all the time. 9:00 AM Pacific is 12:00 PM Eastern, 2:00 PM Pacific is 5:00 PM Eastern, and 9:30 PM Pacific is already 12:30 AM the next day in Eastern. Both zones switch to daylight saving time on the same dates, so the gap stays at 3 hours whether it's winter (PST and EST) or summer (PDT and EDT). The exception is a few hours on the two nights the clocks change — see the next question.
- When is the gap 4 hours or 2 hours instead of 3?
- Both coasts change their clocks at 2:00 AM local time, and the East Coast hits 2:00 AM three hours first. In March, from 11:00 PM Saturday to 1:59 AM Sunday Pacific, the East Coast has already sprung forward and the West Coast hasn't: 11:30 PM PST is 3:30 AM EDT, 4 hours ahead. In November, from 11:00 PM Saturday to the first 1:59 AM Sunday Pacific, the East Coast has already fallen back: 12:59 AM PDT is 2:59 AM EST, 2 hours ahead. It rarely matters for a meeting, but it does for overnight flights, server maintenance windows, and live events.
- Should I write PST or PDT?
- PST (UTC-8) is only correct in winter. From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, the West Coast is on PDT (UTC-7), and the East Coast is on EDT (UTC-4) instead of EST (UTC-5). That's about 238 days a year of daylight time in 2026, so "PST" in a summer invite is technically wrong by an hour, even though most people know what you mean. The result card shows the right abbreviation for the date. If you'd rather not think about it, write "PT" and "ET" — those are correct year-round.
- What happens to 2:30 AM on the night the clocks spring forward?
- It doesn't exist. On the second Sunday in March, Pacific clocks go from 1:59 AM straight to 3:00 AM, so there's no 2:15 AM or 2:30 AM that night. Type one in and the converter tells you so and points you to the same minute an hour later, in PDT. On the first Sunday in November the opposite happens: 1:00 to 1:59 AM happens twice. The converter shows the first one (PDT) as the main answer and the second one (PST) underneath, since they land an hour apart in Eastern Time.
- What are good meeting times for both coasts?
- If both teams work 9 to 5 local time, the shared window is 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM Eastern, which is 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM Pacific. That's five hours. A 9:00 AM Eastern meeting is 6:00 AM on the West Coast, and a 4:00 PM Pacific meeting is 7:00 PM on the East Coast, so both ends of the day are rough for someone. Late morning Pacific / early afternoon Eastern — 10:00 or 11:00 AM PT, 1:00 or 2:00 PM ET — is the safest slot.
- Which states are on Pacific Time and Eastern Time?
- Pacific Time covers California, Washington, most of Nevada and Oregon, and the northern panhandle of Idaho. Eastern Time covers the East Coast from Maine to most of Florida, plus Ohio, almost all of Michigan, most of Indiana, and the eastern parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. Arizona is not on Pacific Time: most of the state stays on Mountain Standard Time all year, which matches Pacific Time in summer and is an hour ahead of it in winter.
- Is daylight saving time going away?
- Not yet. Several states, including California, Oregon, and Washington, have voted to support staying on daylight time all year, but federal law doesn't allow that without Congress. A bill to make daylight time permanent passed the Senate in 2022 and died in the House. States are allowed to stay on standard time all year, which is what Arizona and Hawaii do. This converter uses the current federal rule and will need an update if Congress changes it.
- Does it work for past or future dates?
- Yes, for any date from 1987 to 2099. Before 2007, daylight saving time ran from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October, and the converter applies that older rule for 1987 to 2006. Dates before 1987 followed other rules and are turned away rather than guessed. The math runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere or saved.
