Time in Rhode Island, as in all US states, is regulated by the United States Department of Transportation.[1] Rhode Island is in the Eastern Time Zone (ET) and observes daylight saving time (DST).
Time | UTC | |
---|---|---|
Standard time (winter) | Eastern Standard Time (EST) | UTC−05:00 |
Daylight time (summer) | Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) | UTC−04:00 |
Independent of daylight saving time, solar noon in Rhode Island on the March equinox is about 11:53, which is earlier than most areas of the United States. The state is small enough that geographical location only results in a difference of a few minutes.
Date (approx.) |
Location | ||
---|---|---|---|
Westerly | Providence | Little Compton | |
March equinox | 11:54 | 11:52 | 11:52 |
June solstice | 11:49 | 11:47 | 11:46 |
September equinox | 11:40 | 11:39 | 11:38 |
December solstice | 11:45 | 11:44 | 11:43 |
Like the other five New England states, which also use the Eastern Time Zone, sunset in the winter in Rhode Island can occur as early as 4:30 p.m. Most of the New England states have considered using the Atlantic Time Zone without daylight saving to mitigate this. While Rhode Island considered such a bill in 2016,[3] it would only take effect if Massachusetts did the same.[4]
The IANA time zone database identifier for Rhode Island is America/New_York.[5]