EDT vs GMT
Between EDT and GMT, there is a difference of 4 hours. But, to understand how this is derived at, first let us see what EDT and GMT stand for and the purpose of having different time standards. EDT stands for Eastern Daylight Time while GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time. EDT is followed to make the lives of humans easier while GMT is followed all around the world to let all of us keep accurate time. GMT is made according to astronomical observations. This is actually a country based time standard. In this article, we will discuss more about EDT and GMT and try to understand the difference between EDT and GMT.
What is GMT?
The world is divided into many time zones, and all places have a local time and also a time in relation with GMT, which is known as Greenwich Mean Time. Greenwich is a place in England from where all time zones in the world are measured. It is the Prime Meridian or Greenwich Meridian (longitude zero degrees) that is the starting point for all time zones in the world. GMT is also said to be World Time, and it sets the current time at all places of the world. Of late, however, it has been replaced by UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) that is based upon the atomic clock and considered to be more precise.
Earth’s zero degree line of longitude passes through Greenwich and is called Greenwich Meridian. If you are in a country east of GMT, you are ahead of the GMT. For example, local time in India is GMT + 5.5 hours. On the other hand, west of GMT, local time is behind GMT. If you are in NY, local time in summers is GMT – 4 hours and GMT- 5 hours in winters. As you can see, GMT + signifies that the time zone is east of GMT and GMT – signifies that the time zone is west of GMT.
What is EDT?
EDT, on the other hand, is called Eastern Daylight Time and refers to a time zone that is 4 hours behind GMT or UTC. EDT is applied in eastern parts of US and Canada. It is used in the Caribbean too. In some record, it is also called as Eastern Daylight Savings Time, which is a system of saving time in a particular period of the year by advancing the clocks by an hour. EDT is mainly used in summers in the eastern part of North American Continent. EDT starts at 3 AM on the second Sunday of March (2 AM EST) and continues till the first Sunday of November. It ends on this day at 2 AM EDT, which gets converted to 1 AM EST. EDT is the current time in Greenwich minus four hours. It means that when it is noon at Greenwich, it is 8 AM in the EDT time zone.
EDT = GMT – 4 hours
What is the difference between EDT and GMT?
• GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time.
• EDT stands for Eastern Daylight Time.
• All the time zones around the world refer to GMT (now to UTC) when telling their time. Each time zone is either ahead of GMT or after GMT. The time zones that are ahead are the ones situated east to the Prime Meridian along which the GMT line is drawn. The time zones that are after GMT are the ones situated west to the Prime Meridian.
• EDT is a time zone that is 4 hours behind GMT or UTC.
• GMT is used all around the world. However, EDT is only used in the North America and the Caribbean.
• GMT is used all around the year. EDT is only used in the summer.
Images Courtesy: UTC−04: Blue (January), Orange (July), Yellow (all year round), Light Blue – Sea areas via Wikicommons (Public Domain)
