Moscow Time facts for kids
Moscow Time is the official time zone for the city of Moscow, the capital of Russia. It's set at UTC+3. This means it's three hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is like the world's main clock.
To give you an idea, Moscow Time is the same as:
- Eastern European Summer Time
- East Africa Time
- Arabia Standard Time
Contents
What is UTC?
UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time. It's the primary time standard that the world uses to regulate clocks and time. Think of it as the central time from which all other time zones are measured. When we say "UTC+3," it means that Moscow's time is 3 hours ahead of this central time.
Changes to Moscow Time
Over the years, Russia has made some interesting changes to its time zones.
Time Zone Shifts in Russia
In 2010, on March 28, Moscow Time became the time zone for the Samara Oblast region in Russia. Before this, Samara had its own time zone, called Samara Time (UTC+4). After the change, Samara started using Moscow Time, and Samara Time was no longer used.
No More Winter Time
On February 8, 2011, the Russian government announced a big change: they decided to stop using "winter time" across all of Russia's time zones. This meant that clocks would no longer be set back an hour in the autumn.
So, on March 27, 2011, people in Moscow set their clocks forward one hour, making their time UTC+4 permanently. This was meant to keep more daylight in the evenings.
Back to UTC+3
However, this change didn't last forever. In July 2014, the law that kept "summer time" (the time when clocks are set forward) all year round was changed. Starting from October 26, 2014, the clocks in Moscow were set back one hour again, returning to UTC+3. This is the time zone Moscow uses today.
Technical Details
The official name for Moscow's time zone in computer databases is Europe/Moscow. This helps computers and devices around the world know what time it is in Moscow.
See also
- In Spanish: Hora de Moscú para niños
