Time change and time system in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom belongs to the Western European Time or WET for its acronym in English, a time window explained in the following paragraphs. Also below we show you the time difference present between London and some of the major countries in the world, so you can travel to the British capital with peace of mind.
Below you will find an index with all the items we will cover in this article.
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UK time zone
Europe is divided into different time zones according to the hours of sunshine each country has throughout the year. In Europe, a total of five time zones are distinguished in the English language, of which the United Kingdom belongs to the Western European Time Western European Time, usually abbreviated as WET.
The WET time zone coincides with the coordinated universal time or together UTC + 0 (Coordinated Universal Time) and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which corresponds to the winter time of the countries included in this time zone.
In the United Kingdom, including England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, GMT has been used since 1847 in England and since 1916 in Northern Ireland.
What do the acronyms AM and PM stand for??
The abbreviations AM / am and PM / pm mean morning y afternoon respectively both terms from Latin. The first means in the morning, while the second refers afternoon. This way of displaying the hours is used in Great Britain, because in this country they follow the 12 hour time system.
In this system, the measurement of the total amount of the day, ie the total duration of 24 hours, is divided into two periods: the time before noon (AM) and the time after noon (PM).
In this way, the numbering starts at 12 o'clock as 0 and is followed by 1, 2, 3 . followed until it reaches 11. From this point on, the count starts from 12 noon. to mark 12 a.m., the abbreviation Md (noon) and at 12 a.m. Mn (midnight).
All this means that you come from a country where the 24-hour system is used (z. B. Spain) and travel to the United Kingdom or to one of the countries where the 12-hour system is used (z. Ireland) you will have to get used to the hours being displayed in AM or PM format, to the fact that the inhabitants of the country will tell you the time according to this format and, if necessary, tell them to adapt to their system. Otherwise, it is very likely that you will not understand yourself very well.
We set an ejemplo To better understand this type of accurate time: Imagine that in Spain it is 10 pm, a time window that falls after noon. How would you find this time in the UK? If your answer was 10 AM, then you have correctly. On the contrary, if it were 10:10 a.m. in Spain, the clocks there would read 10:10 a.m
Daylight saving time
The United Kingdom and countries in this time zone extend time annually to adjust to daylight saving time between 1:00 a.m. on the last Sunday in March and 1:00 a.m. on the last Sunday in October.
This way the Western European Summer Time or WEST (UTC + 1) can be. Other countries in this time zone include Portugal, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland, although the latter is the only one that does not go to UTC + 1 in summer. The Canary Islands (Spain) also use the UTC + 0 time zone.
Time changes by cities
In the following table we show you the main world cities together with the time difference that exists between the United Kingdom and the same:
| City | Time difference | What time would it be in your city if in London it was 13:30? |
| Madrid (Spain) | -1 hour | 14:30 |
| Los Angeles (USA) | -8 hours | 5:30 a.m |
| NY (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.) | -5 hours | 8:30 a.m |
| Bogota Colombia) | -6 hours | 7:30 a.m |
| Lima, Peru) | -6 hours | 7:30 a.m |
| Buenos Aires, Argentina) | -4 hours | 9:30 a.m |
| Sucre (Bolivia) | -5 hours | 8:30 a.m |
| Sao Paulo, Brazil) | -4 hours | 9:30 a.m |
| Santiago (Chile) | -4 hours | 9:30 a.m |
| San Jose Costa Rica) | -7 hours | 6:30 a.m |
| Havana Cuba) | -5 hours | 8:30 a.m |
| Quito, Ecuador) | -6 hours | 7:30 a.m |
| Galapagos (Ecuador) | -7 hours | 6:30 |
| San Salvador, El Salvador) | -7 hours | 6:30 hours |
| Guatemala City (Guatemala) | -7 hours | 6:30 a.m |
| Tegucigalpa (Honduras) | -7 hours | 6:30 a.m |
| Mexico, DF (Mexico) | -6 hours | 7:30 a.m |
| Managua Nicaragua) | -7 hours | 6:30 AM |
| Panama (Panama) | -6 hours | 7:30 a.m |
| Asuncion, Paraguay) | -5 hours | 8:30 p.m |
| Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) | -5 hours | 8:30 a.m |
| Montevideo, Uruguay) | -4 hours | 9:30 a.m |
| Caracas, Venezuela) | -5.5 hours | 8:00 a.m |
| Tokyo, Japan | +8 hours | 21:30 |
If you want to know the exact date and time of the live stay in the UK, we recommend you to use a time zone converter like the one you can find by clicking this link.
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