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Alaska is officially covered by two time zones - the Alaska Time Zone and the Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone. The Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone is used for the Aleutian Islands west of 169°30′W (Islands of Four Mountains, Andreanof Islands, Rat Islands and Near Islands), and the rest of the state uses the Alaska Time Zone. The entirety of Alaska observes daylight saving time.

The town of Hyder, because it essentially is a single town split by the border between the United States and Canada, unofficially observes Pacific Time including DST (UTC−08:00, DST UTC−07:00) like its neighbor Stewart, British Columbia, with the exception of the U.S. Post Office (because it is a federal facility).

History

As part of Russian America, Alaska used the Julian calendar and followed the same day of the week as Asia, using the date of the eastern hemisphere. In 1867, Alaska became a United States territory (through the Alaska Purchase) and began using the Gregorian calendar, aligning with the same day of the week as the Americas, using the date of the western hemisphere. The switch was achieved by repeating the same day of the week and skipping eleven days of the month instead of twelve during the 19th century, so that the purchase date of Friday, October 6 (Julian) was followed once again by Friday, October 18 (instead of Saturday, October 19 in Gregorian). That change redrew the International Date Line from being east to west of the territory to realign itself from Asian to American dates, thus shifting it from the date of the eastern hemisphere to the western hemisphere.

Before time zones were introduced, every place used local observation of the sun to set its clocks, which meant that every location used a different local mean time based on its longitude. For example, Sitka, the capital of Alaska at the time, at longitude 135°20′W, had a local time equivalent to UTC+14:59 under Russia and UTC−09:01 under the United States.

In 1900, "Alaska Standard Time" was established within the state as UTC−09:00.

In 1918, the United States Congress passed the Standard Time Act, which defined a standard time zone for Alaska - United States Standard Alaska Time, set at UTC−10:00.

On January 20, 1942, all of the United States, including Alaska, began to observe War Time. Standard time in the United States advanced by one hour and would remain so until September 25, 1945, when the act was repealed.

In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act. The Uniform Time Act introduced Daylight Saving Time uniformly in the United States, which Alaska would begin observing on April 28, 1968. The Uniform Time Act also defined four time zones that Alaska would use:

• Bering Standard Time (UTC−11:00), used by the west coast (including Nome) and the Aleutian Islands.
• Alaska–Hawaii Standard Time (UTC−10:00), used by most of Alaska, including Anchorage and Fairbanks.
• Yukon Standard Time (UTC−09:00), used by Yakutat.
• Pacific Standard Time (UTC−08:00), used by Southeast Alaska, including Juneau.

In April 1983, the Alaska Legislature approved a resolution asking the Department of Transportation to switch Alaska to use only two time zones. It was approved by Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole on September 15, 1983, and took effect on October 30, 1983. Areas east of Unalaska began using the Yukon Time Zone (UTC−09:00). Most of the Aleutian Islands, previously on Bering Time, were now using Alaska–Hawaii Time. As an act of Congress was required to change the name of the time zones, the time zones did not gain their modern names (Alaska Time and Hawaii–Aleutian Time) until November 30, 1984.

Historic alterations

tz database

The tz database version 2024b contains seven time zones for Alaska for historical reasons. Only three (America/Adak, America/Anchorage, and America/Metlakatla) are currently in use.

Notes

1. The term UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) begin in use just after the introduction of Unix Time on January 1, 1970. In those days before 1970, the GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) was the term being used.

References

1. "eCFR :: 49 CFR 71.12 - - Hawaii-Aleutian zone". Code of Federal Regulations. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
2. "eCFR :: 49 CFR 71.11 - - Alaska zone". Code of Federal Regulations. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
3. "Exceptions, Oddities and Notes". OnTimeZone.com. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
4. Bohrer, Becky (April 26, 2021). "Dunleavy shares COVID vaccine with Canadian town". Alaska Public Media. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
5. Levin, Dan (July 4, 2016). "In Hyder, roaming grizzlies, no police and large doses of Canada". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
6. Dershowitz, Nachum; Reingold, Edward M. (2008). Calendrical Calculations. Cambridge University Press. p. 47. ISBN 9780521885409.
7. Time Zone in Sitka, Alaska, USA, Timeanddate.com.
8. "Keeping Time in Alaska: National Directives, Local Response | Alaska Historical Society". Alaska Historical Society. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
9. Standard Time Act of 1918. 40 Stat. 450
10. AN ACT To promote the national security and defense by establishing daylight saving time. 56 Stat. 9
11. AN ACT To provide for termination of daylight saving time. 59 Stat. 537
12. ^ Time Zone in Anchorage, Alaska, USA, Timeanddate.com.
13. "Daylight Savings Time Comes To Alaska Soon". The Daily Sitka Sentinel. April 22, 1968. Alaskans will advance their clocks one hour next Sunday as the state for the first time observes Daylight Savings Time.
14. Uniform Time Act of 1966. Pub. L. 89–387, 80 Stat. 107, enacted April 13, 1966
15. Time Zone in Nome, Alaska, USA, Timeanddate.com.
16. Time Zone in Adak, Alaska, USA, Timeanddate.com.
17. Time Zone in Yakutat, Alaska, USA, Timeanddate.com.
18. Time Zone in Juneau, Alaska, USA, Timeanddate.com.
19. "Alaska Asks for Reduction Of Time Zones". The Daily Sitka Sentinel. Associated Press. April 20, 1983.
20. Spencer, Hal (September 16, 1983). "Most of Alaska to Switch to a Common Time Zone". The Daily Sitka Sentinel.
21. "AROUND THE NATION; Most of Alaska to Go Under One Time Zone". The New York Times. September 18, 1983. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
22. Wallace Turner (November 1, 1983). "Alaska's four time zones now two". The New York Times. Retrieved September 21, 2017. The big change was in Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka, the major towns in southeast Alaska, where clocks shifted back two hours to Yukon time. After decades on Pacific time, this region will now be an hour earlier, as will Anchorage and Fairbanks, which formerly were two hours earlier than Pacific time.
23. Hal Spencer (September 16, 1983). "Most of Alaska to Switch to a Common Time Zone". The Daily Sitka Sentinel.
24. Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1984. Section 2003. 97 Stat. 1153

• Time in the United States by state
• Geography of Alaska