Did you know there are two time zones in Florida and, in one county, residents live with both of them … by choice?
It might get a little confusing.
Most of Florida is in the Eastern time zone. The western Panhandle is located in the Central time zone, one hour behind Eastern time. In simple terms, when it’s 6 a.m. in Tallahassee, Pensacola residents are rolling over in bed because it’s still 5 a.m. for them.
In Gulf County, it’s even worse — or better, depending on your perspective. Half of the county is in Central time and the other half is in Eastern time. Visitgulf.com has clocks on the wall at its welcome center showing eastern and central times, vacation time (which has no hands and says “don’t care) and Gulf County time. The last clock has numbers jumbled all over.
Let’s take a look at time zones and when daylight saving time will end this year.
How many time zones are there in the United States?
There are four time zones in the continental United States and five more time zones in Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. territories, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
From east to west, the time zones are: Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska, Hawaii-Aleutian, Samoa and Chamorro.
How many time zones are there in Florida?
There are two time zones in Florida: Eastern and Central.
Of the state’s 67 counties, all but nine use Eastern time. The nine counties operating totally under Central time are:
‘No worry, no hurry’: Gulf County in Florida Panhandle has two time zones
Gulf County, in Florida’s Panhandle, has the distinction of being in both Eastern and Central times zones. It’s the only county in the state with two time zones.
The northern part of the county is in Central time. The southern portion along the Gulf Coast is in Eastern time, including the county’s largest city, Port St. Joe.
“The time zone line was originally established along the Apalachicola River, beginning at the Georgia border and following the river to the south. However, the shipping and railroad industries wanted to keep the coastal areas in the Eastern Time Zone and therefore, the line turns at the fork in the Apalachicola River and encompasses most of Port St. Joe and all the communities and beach towns to the south,” according to VisitGulf.com.
“When visiting, it’s best to manually set your clocks to either Central or Eastern. However, if you forget, keep in mind Gulf County is a ‘no worry, no hurry’ destination with a laid-back atmosphere and slow pace, so if you are a little late, or a little early that’s okay too!”
“In 1982, the residents of Gulf County had the opportunity to change the whole county to Central Time, but 55 percent chose to keep it as it is,” according to FloridaSmart.
What states have more than one time zone?
Information provided by TimeTemperature.com.
Time zones across the US. What states are in what time zones?
What time is it?
To check the time where you are, or anywhere, go to timetemperature.com.
Countdown: When does daylight saving time 2025 end?
Daylight saving time 2025 started March 9 and will end at 2 a.m. Nov. 2.
When were time zones in the US created?
Time zones were first established in 1883. Before that, there were 144 “local times” in the U.S.
As railroads began making travel faster, travelers could sometimes arrive at an earlier local time than the one they had left,” the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said.
Because time wasn’t standardized, train schedules using the same tracks couldn’t be coordinated, resulting in collisions. Major railroad companies took it upon themselves to operate on a coordinated system of four time zones in 1883.
In 1918, five time zones were officially adopted under the Standard Time Act as the U.S. entered World War I: Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, and Alaskan. All are still used today, along with additional zones needed to help coordination during World War II.
Who is responsible for US time zones?
When the Department of Transportation was founded in 1966, the responsibility of regulating standardized time was transferred to it from the Interstate Commerce Commission.
The Department of Transportation is also responsbile for daylight saving time.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: What time is it? There are 2 time zones in Florida and 1 county is in both of them
Reporting by Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
