CST is the abbreviation for central standard time. This time zone is followed by almost all of the American states and also parts of Canada and Mexico. It’s 5 hours behind UTC.
PDT or Pacific Daylight Time is a time zone that’s 7 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Only two countries in North America use PDT, which is only used in a few areas.
CDT Vs. PDT
There are two time zones in which the CDT is followed. They are the Central Standard Time Zone and the Mountain Standard Time Zone. But, PDT is only used in one zone, the Pacific Standard Time Zone. basically, all of North America is on the PDT. The only exception is the State of Hawaii.
A lot of people don’t realize it, but most of the world uses Central Daylight Time during the summer. Mexico City is the largest in the zone and also in North America. The event lasts from March to November.
Comparison Table Between CDT and PDT
| Parameter of Comparison | The CDT | The PDT |
| Abbreviations | Central daylight time | Pacific daylight time |
| Country | Canada, Mexico, USA. | Canada, USA. |
| UTC | The CDT is 5 hours earlier than UTC. | The PDT is 7 hours earlier than UTC. |
| Starting date | On the first Sunday, March. | 14th of March |
| Ending date | First Sunday, November. | November 7. |
What is CDT?
Central daylight time is the best time to observe for many regions in the United States. It’s the time when you should subtract 5 hours from the universal time. It means that you can view the daytime of your region by subtracting 5 hours from the current universal time.
Central America, the US, and Mexico are in the same time zone as Europe, so when it’s springtime in that region it’s summertime here. Central Daylight-Saving Time (CDST) refers to the area where entire Central America, the US, and Canada all run at the same time of day.
What is the PDT?
The time changes but the location of the UTC never changes. The time differences between different time zones always side with UTC, which is the time coordinate that is used to make comparisons and choose a prime meridian. PDT is daylight-saving time known to be summertime of PST, which is pacific standard time. When it comes to that time of year, we say it’s “pacific standard time.” It’s when Daylight-keeping assets are laid back every six hours on a 24-hour clock.
Let us say you are in New Jersey and you want to call a friend who lives in New York. Let’s say your friend is in the office and his / her phone is turned off. In that case, you use the following information to determine what time you should call your friend:
Time Zone: New York is in UTC – 5 Time Zone. Therefore, during summer, the sun is 14 hours above the horizon and, during the winter, the sun is 10 hours above the horizon. (The exact opposite of what you might think.)
Daylight Savings Time: New York is not in any of the daylight savings time zones.
Difference Between CDT and PDT
The main contrast between daylight savings time and standard time is that daylight savings time starts at 2 am on the first Sunday in April and ends at 2 am on the last Sunday in October.
The PDT and CDT are applied in two countries- Canada and the United States, but the CDT is used only in Canada and Mexico.
The CDT time ends on 1st Sunday, November, but PDT time ends on the 7th of November.
Central Daylight Time (CDT) means that the sun is up in the center of the earth at noon, which occurs during mid-summer, and it’s usually six hours after sunrise. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) is usually used during summertime and means that the sun is up in the west at noon, which is just before sunset.
There are several different time zones. They are specified and compared to the universally coordinated time which is UTC.
The CDT is usually followed in Central America, but the PDT is used in Northern America.
Conclusion
These territories observe the time zone called PDT or pacific daylight time. This time zone is observed by most countries in South America, including Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, and possibly a few others. This is a very confusing time zone to explain because it is 7 hours behind UTC which is known as just universal time. What you need to know is, during the summertime, when PDT is used, all over North America, Central America, South America are in the same time zone. That means they are all five hours ahead of eastern standard time which is known as Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
When it comes to time, there are many time zones. The difference in each time zone is specified in relation to the UTC, which is the time in one specific location on earth. This book explains how all these different time zones relate to each other.