Menu

America/Sitka time zone

4:44AMAKST

AKSTUTC−9−4 h vs New York (you)

About America/Sitka

America/Sitka is the IANA time zone for Alaska: Sitka area in United States. It currently keeps Alaska Standard Time (AKST, UTC−9) in winter and Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT, UTC−8) in summer.

Its principal location is Sitka at 57.18° N, 135.30° W.

Abbreviations in use: AKST, AKDT. Offset page: UTC−9.

Rule for future years (POSIX TZ string)

AKST9AKDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0

The standard time is called AKST and is UTC−9. POSIX writes the offset with the opposite sign (west of Greenwich is positive), which is why the string says "9". Daylight saving time is called AKDT and is UTC−8. 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/Sitka since 1970

The record starts with local mean time (UTC+14:59), which ended on October 19, 1867. The first daylight saving time in the record is in 1942.

YearsClocksAbbreviations
1970–1973UTC−8 in winter, UTC−7 in summerPST, PDT
1974mostly UTC−7; also UTC−8 for part of the yearPST, PDT
1975–1982UTC−8 in winter, UTC−7 in summerPST, PDT
1983UTC−8 in winter, UTC−7 in summer; also UTC−9 for part of the yearPST, PDT, YST, AKST
1984 onwardUTC−9 in winter, UTC−8 in summerAKST, AKDT

Before 1970

6 offset changes before 1970 in the record:

Changes of the winter (standard) offset: Sunday, April 24, 1983, UTC−8 → UTC−9.

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/Anchorage, America/Juneau, America/Metlakatla, America/Nome, America/Yakutat.

Convert Sitka time

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

Using America/Sitka 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/Sitka' })

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

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

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

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

# Shell
TZ='America/Sitka' 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/Sitka?
UTC−9 in winter and UTC−8 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/Sitka 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/Sitka?
United States, according to zone1970.tab in tzdata.

Related