Newfoundland Standard Time Zone
Encyclopedia
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
. The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...
52 degrees and 30 arcminutes west of the Greenwich Observatory.
Use
NT is used only in CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and there only by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
. Officially, the entire province is in the Newfoundland Time Zone by legislation. In practice, however, it is observed only on the island of Newfoundland, its offshore islands, and southeastern Labrador communities south of Black Tickle
Black Tickle, Newfoundland and Labrador
Black Tickle is a settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador. Locations in Labrador south of Black Tickle generally observe Newfoundland Time instead of Atlantic Standard Time, which is observed by the rest of the province's continental communities....
. The rest of Labrador
Labrador
Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...
, from Cartwright
Cartwright, Newfoundland and Labrador
-Further reading:*Buckle, Francis Labrador Diary, 1915-1925: the Gordon journals. Cartwright: Anglican Parish ISBN 0-9733448-0-6 -External links:*...
north and west, observes Atlantic Standard/Daylight Time
Atlantic Standard Time Zone
The Atlantic Standard Time Zone is a geographical region that keeps time by subtracting four hours from either Coordinated Universal Time or Greenwich Mean Time , resulting in UTC-4 or GMT-4...
. Southeastern Labrador prefers Newfoundland Time in part to synchronize with the schedule of radio broadcasts from Newfoundland.
This time zone exists because of the location of the island and the fact that it was a separate dominion
Dominion of Newfoundland
The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...
when the time zones were established. The island of Newfoundland lies squarely in the eastern half of the Atlantic Standard Time Zone, exactly three and a half hours from Greenwich and, as a separate country, it had the ability to adopt its own time zone. While the entire province lies west of the standard meridian for a half-hour time zone, 52.5 degrees west longitude, this is also the near exact meridian of St. John's
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
, the province's capital and largest city. In 1963, the Newfoundland government attempted to bring the province into conformity with the other Atlantic provinces, but withdrew in the face of stiff public opposition.
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
is observed throughout the province. In 1988 the provincial government experimented with double daylight saving time, moving clocks ahead two hours during daylight saving time instead of just one. This move proved unpopular in the fall when children started going to school in the dark. In 2006, the province enacted an extension to daylight saving time,http://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/s23.htm starting in 2007, following the lead of the United States and other Canadian provinces.
This unusual time zone puts the island of Newfoundland an hour and a half ahead of Central Canada
Central Canada
Central Canada is a region consisting of Canada's two largest and most populous provinces: Ontario and Quebec. Due to their high populations, Ontario and Quebec have traditionally held a significant amount of political power in Canada, leading to some amount of resentment from other regions of the...
, a half hour ahead of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and half an hour behind Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France. It is the only remnant of the former colonial empire of New France that remains under French control....
. Because of this, it will hit milestones of time before (almost) any other part of the continent, a quirk that draws attention to Newfoundland. For instance the Newfoundland releases of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series by British author J. K. Rowling...
and Halo 2
Halo 2
Halo 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. Released for the Xbox video game console on November 9, 2004, the game is the second installment in the Halo franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved...
were publicized across Canada.
Likewise, in the case of Canada-wide broadcasts timed to be heard at the same local hour in the rest of the country through the use of a different feed for each time zone (most commonly the CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
's radio and TV networks), Newfoundland uses Atlantic-time broadcasts, so references to programs being at "six o'clock, six-thirty in Newfoundland" are commonly heard across Canada. However, a station in St. John's originating local programming may refer to it as "coming up at six-thirty, six o'clock in most of Labrador".