UTC to CST
US Central Time is six hours behind UTC in winter (CST, UTC−6) and five hours behind in summer (CDT, UTC−5): 18:00 UTC is noon in Chicago in January and 1:00 PM in July. UTC times before 06:00 in winter, or 05:00 in summer, are still the previous day in the Central zone.
Reading "Z" times in weather forecasts
The Central zone covers Tornado Alley, and severe-weather products from the National Weather Service are written in UTC, marked with a Z. The Storm Prediction Center's day-one outlook runs from 12Z to 12Z, which is 6:00 AM to 6:00 AM in Oklahoma City in winter and 7:00 AM to 7:00 AM in summer. A watch issued "until 03Z" expires at 9:00 PM Central in winter and 10:00 PM in summer, on the previous calendar date.
Radar loops, weather balloon launches (00Z and 12Z, or 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM Central in winter) and aviation forecasts all use the same convention, so storm chasers and pilots in the Plains learn the five-or-six-hour subtraction early.
UTC−6 here, UTC+8 elsewhere
In logs and international documents, CST is risky. China Standard Time is also written CST and sits at UTC+8, fourteen hours ahead of Chicago in winter. Some software prints "CST" for both. When you see a timestamp labeled CST from a server whose location you do not know, check the UTC offset rather than the abbreviation.
Mexico City, Guatemala and Costa Rica stay at UTC−6 all year, so for them this conversion is a fixed six hours. For other zones and dates, try the time zone converter.
UTC → CST quick reference
Every hour of the day, using today's offsets (daylight saving is applied automatically).
| UTC | CST |
|---|---|
| 12:00 AM | 7:00 PM−1 |
| 1:00 AM | 8:00 PM−1 |
| 2:00 AM | 9:00 PM−1 |
| 3:00 AM | 10:00 PM−1 |
| 4:00 AM | 11:00 PM−1 |
| 5:00 AM | 12:00 AM |
| 6:00 AM | 1:00 AM |
| 7:00 AM | 2:00 AM |
| 8:00 AM | 3:00 AM |
| 9:00 AM | 4:00 AM |
| 10:00 AM | 5:00 AM |
| 11:00 AM | 6:00 AM |
| UTC | CST |
|---|---|
| 12:00 PM | 7:00 AM |
| 1:00 PM | 8:00 AM |
| 2:00 PM | 9:00 AM |
| 3:00 PM | 10:00 AM |
| 4:00 PM | 11:00 AM |
| 5:00 PM | 12:00 PM |
| 6:00 PM | 1:00 PM |
| 7:00 PM | 2:00 PM |
| 8:00 PM | 3:00 PM |
| 9:00 PM | 4:00 PM |
| 10:00 PM | 5:00 PM |
| 11:00 PM | 6:00 PM |
- Difference right now
- CST 5 hours behind UTC
- Shared office hours
- 11 PM–2 AM UTC
- Daylight saving
- Only CST shifts its clocks
Clock changes this year
- —UTC: no clock changes this year
- Mar 8, 2026CST: clocks go forward, UTC−6 → UTC−5
- Nov 1, 2026CST: clocks go back, UTC−5 → UTC−6
Other conversions with these zones
Frequently asked questions
- What is 12Z in Central time?
- 6:00 AM Central Standard Time in winter, or 7:00 AM Central Daylight Time in summer.
- How many hours behind UTC is Chicago?
- Six hours from early November to mid-March and five hours from mid-March to early November.
- Why do weather balloons launch at 00Z and 12Z?
- Upper-air observations are made at the same UTC moments worldwide so the data can be compared. In the US Central zone that is 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM in winter.
- Is a timestamp labeled CST always US Central?
- No. China Standard Time uses the same letters. Check the numeric offset: −06:00 is US Central, +08:00 is China.
- What is 01:00 UTC in Dallas?
- 7:00 PM the previous day in winter and 8:00 PM the previous day in summer.