WEST — Western European Summer Time
Daylight saving variant of WET — UTC+1.
WEST stands for Western European Summer Time. Daylight saving variant of WET — UTC+1.
WEST is UTC+01:00 from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The primary IANA zone is Europe/Lisbon.
WEST is a daylight-saving time abbreviation. It is used when clocks are advanced from WET (UTC+00:00) during summer months.
Standard / daylight pair
WET · UTC+0 — November–March
Countries using this zone
- Portugal
- United Kingdom
- Ireland
- Spain
- Denmark
- Iceland
- Western Sahara
Principal cities
- Lisbon
- London
- Dublin
- Las Palmas
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife
- Funchal
- Tórshavn
History
Portugal and its territories adopted the Western European time alignment to match their geographical longitude. Between 1992 and 1996, the Portuguese mainland briefly experimented with Central European Time before returning to the current system to better align with natural solar cycles. Recent data indicates that the transition rules follow the standard European Union directive for seasonal time adjustments.
Frequently Asked Questions
WEST — Western European Summer Time. Daylight saving variant of WET — UTC+1.
WEST is UTC+01:00. It is paired with WET (UTC+00:00).
Countries and territories primarily using WEST include: PT.
WEST IS the daylight-saving variant. Zones shift from WET to WEST at the start of summer and back to WET at the end.
WEST is the summer (daylight-saving) abbreviation and WET is the winter (standard) abbreviation. WEST is one hour ahead of WET.
The primary IANA time zone representing WEST is Europe/Lisbon. Operating systems and programming libraries use this identifier to resolve local time.
WEST stands for Western European Summer Time and represents an offset of UTC+1. It is the daylight saving counterpart to Western European Time (WET), which is UTC+0. Most regions transition from WET to WEST on the last Sunday of March and revert on the last Sunday of October to maximize sunlight during the afternoon hours.
Recent data indicates that Portugal and the Canary Islands of Spain are the primary users of the WEST label. The Faroe Islands also utilize this offset. While the United Kingdom and Ireland observe the same UTC+1 time during summer, they officially use the labels British Summer Time (BST) and Irish Standard Time (IST).
The transition to Western European Summer Time happens annually on the last Sunday of March. At 01:00 UTC, clocks advance by 1 hour to 02:00 local time. This period of daylight saving concludes on the last Sunday of October, when clocks move back by 1 hour at 02:00 local time to return to standard time.
No, Iceland does not observe Western European Summer Time. Although geographically located in the Western European zone, Iceland maintains UTC+0 year-round without any daylight saving adjustments. This decision helps the nation avoid the biannual clock changes common in continental Europe and other North Atlantic island territories like the Faroe Islands.
Yes, the Canary Islands are 1 hour behind mainland Spain throughout the entire year. While the mainland uses Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) during the warmer months, the Canary Islands use Western European Summer Time (UTC+1). This ensures the islands remain closer to their actual solar time based on their westward longitude.
The Azores archipelago does not use Western European Summer Time; instead, it observes Azores Summer Time (AZOST). Because the islands are located further west than the mainland, they use UTC−1 during winter and UTC+0 during the summer. This puts them 1 hour behind the Portuguese mainland throughout the year.