So just what time is it in Newfoundland & Labrador right now? That’s a question often asked when I’m booking a call with a client that’s out of the province or just in general in our DMs from people planning their travel here. Newfoundland has its own unique time zone, some who say it is the strangest time zone’s in all the world.

Did you know that the Newfoundland time zone is the only active time zone with a half-hour offset from UTC in the Americas?

This is the current time in Newfoundland compared to San Francisco and London time to give you an idea of strange it is.

The Newfoundland Time Zone, also known as NT, is a region that keeps time by subtracting three and a half hours from Coordinated Universal Time during standard time. The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the meridian 52 degrees and 30 arcminutes west of the Greenwich Observatory. It is observed solely in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Did you know that the Newfoundland time zone is the only active time zone with a half-hour offset from UTC in the Americas? Well know you do know.

So just what time zone does Labrador use? Well, the rest of Labrador, from Cartwright north and west, utilizes Atlantic Time along with the rest of its counterparts in Atlantic Canada. 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 when time zones were established. Newfoundland lies squarely in the eastern half of the Atlantic Time Zone, exactly three and a half hours from Greenwich

The Newfoundland and Labrador provincial law states that the entire province observes Newfoundland Time. With that being said, Newfoundland Time is only observed on the island that is Newfoundland, its smaller offshore islands, and the southeastern Labrador communities that are south of Black Tickle. The rest of Labrador, from Cartwright north and west, observes Atlantic Time along with the rest of Atlantic Canada.

Southeastern Labrador prefers Newfoundland Time in part to synchronize with the schedule of radio broadcasts from Newfoundland.

The Newfoundland time zone exists because of the location of the island, and because it was a separate dominion when time zones were established. Due to that separation from Canada, NL had the right to adopt its own time zone when time zones were first created. 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, the province’s capital and largest city.

In 1963, the Newfoundland government attempted to move the province to Atlantic Time in tandem with the rest of Atlantic Canada, but withdrew in the face of very stiff public opposition.