Time zones and Daylight saving time

Brazil has four time zones. As Brazil lays west of Greenwich, it is earlier in Brazil than in Greenwich and the rest of Europe.

• The first time zone is 30ºW. Only some islands in the Atlantic Ocean with no more than 2000 people are in that time zone. This time zone is 2 hours behind Greenwich mean time (GMT-2).
• The majority of the Brazilian population lives in the second time zone: 45ºW. This time zone is 3 hours behind Greenwich mean time (GMT-3). This is the "official time of Brazil". It is used in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Fortaleza, Natal and Recife.
• The third time zone is 60ºW which runs 4 hours behind Greenwich mean time (GMT-4). It is used in the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rondônia, Roraima, the western part of the state of Pará and the major share of the Amazon region.
• The state of Acre and the most western part of the Amazon basin are in the fourth time zone (75ºW) which is 5 hours behind Greenwich (GMT-5).

Southern Brazil uses daylight saving time when countries in the northern hemisphere use normal time. As the dates of change from summertime to wintertime depend on national decisions, there are four situations that cause a time difference between the northern hemisphere and Brazil in addition to the time zones:

• daylight saving time in the northern hemisphere, normal time in Brazil:
  1 hour less time difference (when Brazilian time is earlier)
• normal time in the northern hemisphere, normal time in Brazil:
  no extra time difference
• normal time in the northern hemisphere, daylight saving time in Brazil:
  1 hour extra time difference (when Brazilian time is earlier)
• daylight saving time in the northern hemisphere, daylight saving time in Brazil:
  no extra time difference (by coincidence, this does currently not exist!)

Northern Brazil does not use daylight saving time!