Sunday, February 17, 2013: Brazil ends Daylight Saving Time
Published 6-Feb-2013. Changed 8-Feb-2013
The Daylight Saving Time (DST) period in Brazil will end at midnight between Saturday, February 16 and Sunday, February 17, 2013. Clocks in the Brazilian States that observed DST in the summer will be turned back one hour from 12 midnight (00:00) to 11pm (23:00) local time.
DST map of Brazil
DST dates worldwide – first half of 2013
DST dates worldwide – second half of 2013
Where will the clocks change?
Only some Brazilian states started DST in 2012. They are:
- Sao Paulo, São Paulo
- Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro
- Brasilia, Distrito Federal
- Criciúma, Santa Catarina
- Curitiba, Paraná
- Goiânia, Goiás
- Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul
- Campo Grande, Mato Grosso Do Sul
- Vitória, Espírito Santo
- Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais
- Cuiabá, Mato Grosso (some exceptions)
Goiás may abolish the yearly switch
There have been calls recently to abandon the seasonal time change in the Brazilian state of Goiás, which lies west of the country's capital Brasilia. Federal deputy Heuler Cruvinel from the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSD) issued a proposal in January 2013 to remove Goiás from the list of Brazilian states that observe DST. According to Mr Cruvinel, the yearly switch does not make sense in a region so close to the equator. No decision has been reached so far and it is not known if Goiás will start the next scheduled DST period on Sunday, October 20, 2013.
timeanddate.com will provide updates on this story as soon as more information becomes available.
Brazilians divided over DST
Daylight Saving Time is a controversial subject in Brazil. In the past few years, there have been several proposals to abolish the DST routine in many parts of the country. The state of Bahia reintroduced DST in 2011, only to abolish it again one year later because the initiative was met by fierce opposition from many people in the state.
Time in Brazil
Brazil has three time zones due to its large geographic size:
- The first time zone, UTC-2 hours (standard time), includes areas such as the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha.
- The second time zone, UTC-3 hours (standard time), comprises the states in the South, the Southeast, and the Northeast Region (except some islands). These include the states of Goiás, Tocantins, Pará, and Amapá, plus the Brazilian Federal District.
- The third time zone, UTC-4 hours (standard time), includes the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Amazonas, Rondonia, Roraima and Acre.