Current Time in MDT (Mountain Daylight Time)
About MDT
The daylight saving time for the Mountain Time Zone in North America. Used in parts of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. It is one hour ahead of Mountain Standard Time (MST). Active from March to November.
UTC Offset: -06:00
Current time shown is based on the representative IANA zone: America/Denver
Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)
What Does MDT Mean?
MDT stands for Mountain Daylight Time. The term "Mountain" refers to the Rocky Mountain region, which the time zone primarily covers. "Daylight" indicates that it is the daylight saving variant, meaning clocks are set one hour ahead of the standard time (MST) to extend evening daylight.
Standard Offset and Daylight Saving
MDT has a UTC offset of -06:00. Its standard counterpart, Mountain Standard Time (MST), has an offset of -07:00. The switch to MDT occurs at 2:00 a.m. local time on the second Sunday of March, when clocks spring forward to 3:00 a.m. The return to MST happens at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of November, when clocks fall back to 1:00 a.m.
Regions, Countries, and Cities
MDT is observed in three countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Key IANA time zone identifiers include America/Denver, America/Edmonton, and America/Ciudad_Juarez. Major cities on MDT include Denver (Colorado), Edmonton (Alberta), Salt Lake City (Utah), El Paso (Texas), and Ciudad Juรกrez (Chihuahua). The zone covers parts of the Rocky Mountain states and provinces, including Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona (the Navajo Nation only), Alberta, British Columbia (southeastern), Northwest Territories (most), Nunavut (western), and the state of Chihuahua in Mexico.
How MDT Differs from Neighboring Zones
- Pacific Daylight Time (PDT, UTC-07:00): PDT is one hour behind MDT. When it is 12:00 p.m. MDT, it is 11:00 a.m. PDT. The boundary runs through the Rocky Mountains, with places like Vancouver, BC on PDT and Calgary, AB on MDT.
- Central Daylight Time (CDT, UTC-05:00): CDT is one hour ahead of MDT. At 12:00 p.m. MDT, it is 1:00 p.m. CDT. The divide roughly follows the 100th meridian west, separating cities like Denver (MDT) from Omaha (CDT).
- Arizona (MST, UTC-07:00): Most of Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, so during summer, Arizona is on MST (UTC-07:00), which is the same as PDT but one hour behind MDT. For example, when it is 12:00 p.m. in Denver (MDT), it is 11:00 a.m. in Phoenix (MST).
Practical Business Hours Guidance
When scheduling across time zones, note that MDT is 2 hours behind Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). A typical 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. workday in MDT corresponds to 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. EDT. For calls with Europe, MDT is 7 to 8 hours behind Central European Summer Time (CEST). For example, 10:00 a.m. MDT is 6:00 p.m. CEST. In Asia, MDT is 14 to 15 hours behind China Standard Time (CST). Be aware that during the spring and fall transition weeks, some regions may have already changed clocks while others have not, causing temporary offset differences of one hour.