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America/Grand_Turk time zone

11:06AMEST

ESTUTC−5+0 h vs New York (you)

About America/Grand_Turk

America/Grand_Turk is the IANA time zone for Turks and Caicos Islands. It currently keeps Eastern Standard Time (EST, UTC−5) in winter and Eastern Daylight Time (EDT, UTC−4) in summer.

Its principal location is Grand Turk at 21.47° N, 71.13° W.

Abbreviations in use: EST, EDT. Offset page: UTC−5.

Rule for future years (POSIX TZ string)

EST5EDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0

The standard time is called EST and is UTC−5. POSIX writes the offset with the opposite sign (west of Greenwich is positive), which is why the string says "5". Daylight saving time is called EDT and is UTC−4. It starts on the second Sunday of March at 02:00 and ends on the first Sunday of November at 02:00, local time. Software that has no full tzdata copy, such as many embedded devices, can use this string directly as the TZ environment variable.

Upcoming transitions

Computed from tzdata 2026f; local times are read on the clock just before each change.

History of America/Grand_Turk since 1970

The record starts with local mean time (UTC−4:45), which ended on December 31, 1889. The first daylight saving time in the record is in 1979.

YearsClocksAbbreviations
1970–1978UTC−5 all yearEST
1979–2014UTC−5 in winter, UTC−4 in summerEST, EDT
2015UTC−5 until March 8, then UTC−4EST, AST
2016–2017UTC−4 all yearAST
2018UTC−4 until November 4, then UTC−5AST, EDT, EST
2019 onwardUTC−5 in winter, UTC−4 in summerEST, EDT

Before 1970

2 offset changes before 1970 in the record:

Changes of the winter (standard) offset: Sunday, March 8, 2015, UTC−5 → UTC−4; Sunday, November 4, 2018, UTC−4 → UTC−5.

tzdata commits to accuracy from 1970 for every zone (zone1970.tab); earlier entries are historical research and may be incomplete.

Aliases and zones with the same clock

Other zones that keep exactly the same time under the current rules (but have a different history): America/Detroit, America/Indiana/Indianapolis, America/Indiana/Marengo, America/Indiana/Petersburg, America/Indiana/Vevay, America/Indiana/Vincennes, America/Indiana/Winamac, America/Iqaluit, America/Kentucky/Louisville, America/Kentucky/Monticello, America/New_York, America/Port-au-Prince.

Places on America/Grand_Turk

Convert Grand Turk time

Tip: Alt+↑/↓ steps the time by 15 minutes (Shift: one hour). The link keeps the date, time and direction.

Using America/Grand_Turk in code

Every major platform reads the same IANA ID. Store instants in UTC and convert with the ID at display time; never store a fixed offset for a place that has daylight saving time.

// JavaScript
new Date().toLocaleString('en-US', { timeZone: 'America/Grand_Turk' })

# Python 3.9+
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
from datetime import datetime
datetime.now(ZoneInfo('America/Grand_Turk'))

// Java
java.time.ZonedDateTime.now(java.time.ZoneId.of("America/Grand_Turk"))

// Go
loc, _ := time.LoadLocation("America/Grand_Turk")
time.Now().In(loc)

-- PostgreSQL
SELECT now() AT TIME ZONE 'America/Grand_Turk';

# Shell
TZ='America/Grand_Turk' date

Platforms ship their own copy of tzdata and update it on their own schedule. After a rule change, outputs can differ until the platform updates; this page uses tzdata 2026f.

Questions

What is the UTC offset of America/Grand_Turk?
UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 in summer (daylight saving time from the second Sunday of March at 2:00 AM to the first Sunday of November at 2:00 AM).
Does America/Grand_Turk observe daylight saving time?
Yes: clocks move one hour forward on the second Sunday of March at 2:00 AM and back on the first Sunday of November at 2:00 AM.
Which countries use America/Grand_Turk?
Turks and Caicos Islands, according to zone1970.tab in tzdata.

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