Current time in AST
AST is UTC-4, used across Atlantic Canada. The clock below runs at that offset rather than at any one city's local time, because an abbreviation names an offset: when the region switches for the summer, the city moves and AST stays where it is.
6:17:44 AM
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
- Offset
- Etc/GMT+4
- UTC offset
- UTC-4
- 4 h behind your time
Atlantic Canada is not on AST at the moment, so local time there is currently an hour away from this clock. The offset itself does not change: AST is always UTC-4.
Need to convert a specific date and time between zones? Use the timezone converter.
How it works
The offset comes from the IANA time zone database rather than a table we typed out, read through the America/Halifax entry, so it follows the same data your operating system uses and cannot drift out of date on its own.
AST and ADT are the two halves of the same region's year. Clocks move between them on the changeover dates; the offsets themselves never move.
Frequently asked questions
Does AST change with daylight saving?
No. AST is always UTC-4; what changes is which regions are using it. Atlantic Canada switches to its other abbreviation for part of the year, and a clock in that region moves with the switch while AST stays put.
Does AST mean only one thing?
Here, yes: these letters map to one offset, UTC-4, used by Atlantic Canada. That is not true of every abbreviation, which is why the safe habit for scheduling is to write the offset or the IANA zone name alongside the letters.
How do I convert a meeting time into AST?
Use the timezone converter linked above: pick the source zone and read the result. Doing it in your head is where mistakes come from, because you have to remember both sides' switch dates as well as the offsets, and the two hemispheres do not switch on the same weekends.