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America/North_Dakota/Center time zone

7:49AMCST

CSTUTC−6−1 h vs New York (you)

About America/North_Dakota/Center

America/North_Dakota/Center is the IANA time zone for Central: ND (Oliver) in United States. It currently keeps Central Standard Time (CST, UTC−6) in winter and Central Daylight Time (CDT, UTC−5) in summer.

Its principal location is Center at 47.12° N, 101.30° W.

Abbreviations in use: CST, CDT. Offset page: UTC−6.

Rule for future years (POSIX TZ string)

CST6CDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0

The standard time is called CST and is UTC−6. POSIX writes the offset with the opposite sign (west of Greenwich is positive), which is why the string says "6". Daylight saving time is called CDT and is UTC−5. 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/North_Dakota/Center since 1970

The record starts with local mean time (UTC−6:45), which ended on November 18, 1883. The first daylight saving time in the record is in 1918.

YearsClocksAbbreviations
1970–1973UTC−7 in winter, UTC−6 in summerMST, MDT
1974mostly UTC−6; also UTC−7 for part of the yearMST, MDT
1975–1991UTC−7 in winter, UTC−6 in summerMST, MDT
1992UTC−7 until April 5, then UTC−6MST, MDT, CST
1993 onwardUTC−6 in winter, UTC−5 in summerCST, CDT

Before 1970

13 offset changes before 1970 in the record:

Changes of the winter (standard) offset: Sunday, April 5, 1992, UTC−7 → UTC−6.

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/Chicago, America/Indiana/Knox, America/Indiana/Tell_City, America/Matamoros, America/Menominee, America/North_Dakota/Beulah, America/North_Dakota/New_Salem, America/Ojinaga, America/Rankin_Inlet, America/Resolute.

Convert Center time

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

Using America/North_Dakota/Center 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/North_Dakota/Center' })

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

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

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

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

# Shell
TZ='America/North_Dakota/Center' 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/North_Dakota/Center?
UTC−6 in winter and UTC−5 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/North_Dakota/Center 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/North_Dakota/Center?
United States, according to zone1970.tab in tzdata.

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