Current time in St. John's, Canada
The current local time in St. John's is shown below. St. John's observes NST in winter and NDT during daylight saving time.
What's the daylight saving status?
When are sunrise & sunset today?
What are the timezone facts?
- Timezone
- America/St_Johns
- Standard abbreviation
- NST
- DST abbreviation
- NDT
- Observes daylight saving
- Yes
- Country
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- Business hours
- 09:00 – 17:00 local
What's the timezone history of St. John's?
St. John's keeps Newfoundland Time at UTC-3:30, the only half-hour offset in North America and one of the few anywhere, shifting to UTC-2:30 under daylight saving. The thirty-minute offset, a survival from the days when Newfoundland was a separate British dominion that set its clocks to its own solar time, makes the province a standing curiosity in Canada, half an hour ahead of the Atlantic provinces and an hour and a half ahead of Toronto, a quirk that national broadcasters still flag with the phrase half an hour later in Newfoundland.
What are the working hours in St. John's?
The offshore oil industry, the fishery and its processing, the ocean sciences, and government anchor the working economy of the provincial capital. The working day runs broadly 08:30 to 16:30 on weekdays. The far-eastern position means the city's day begins well before the rest of Canada's, and the half-hour offset adds a small twist to every cross-country call and broadcast schedule. The main closures follow the Canadian federal calendar, alongside local observances and a summer rich in music and harbour festivals.
Where is St. John's?
St. John's sits on the eastern edge of the island of Newfoundland, around a sheltered harbour that opens through a narrow gap in the cliffs to the North Atlantic. The metropolitan area holds around 220,000 people. One of the oldest European-founded settlements in North America, with a fishing history reaching back to the early sixteenth century, it is the easternmost city on the continent, close enough to the open ocean to be among the foggiest and windiest places in Canada.