MST stands for Mountain Standard Time. It is UTC−07:00 from UTC — 7 hours behind UTC — and it is used in North America, in Phoenix, Denver, Anchorage (in winter, Alaska uses AKST). MST is the winter time of the Mountain Time Zone — and the year-round time of Phoenix, Arizona, which opted out of daylight saving in 1968.

Try the tool: UTC Converter — convert any time to and from MST, with the offset for the date you choose.

When is MST in effect?

MST is the winter time — the standard time — of its zone. In 2026 it is in effect from the autumn clock change (Sunday, 1 November 2026) through the winter until the spring clock change (Sunday, 14 March 2027). In summer the same places move one hour forward and use the daylight saving abbreviation instead.

What time is it when it is 12:00 MST?

City Local time when it is 12:00 MST (15 January 2026)
New York 2:00 pm
London 7:00 pm
Paris 8:00 pm
Dubai 11:00 pm
Mumbai 12:30 am
Tokyo 4:00 am
Sydney 6:00 am
Los Angeles 11:00 am

The table is worked out from the offsets: 12:00 MST is 7:00 pm UTC, and each city's local time is UTC plus its own offset. The half-hour cities are the ones to watch: Mumbai is 30 minutes past the hour, because India is on UTC+05:30. The UTC converter does this calculation for any city and any date.

Does MST have a daylight saving counterpart?

No. MST is used all year, because the places that use it do not observe daylight saving — so there is no summer abbreviation to switch to and no clock change to remember. That is simpler, but it has a consequence: the gap between MST and a place that does observe daylight saving changes during the year. In winter, Phoenix and New York are 2 hours apart; in summer, when New York moves to EDT (UTC−04:00), the gap becomes 3 hours. The time zone converter applies the rules for the date you choose, so the gap is always right.

MST through the year

Whether MST is in effect in each month of 2026, for Phoenix:

Month MST in effect? Offset in effect
January Yes UTC−07:00
February Yes UTC−07:00
March No UTC−06:00
April No UTC−06:00
May No UTC−06:00
June No UTC−06:00
July No UTC−06:00
August No UTC−06:00
September No UTC−06:00
October No UTC−06:00
November Yes UTC−07:00
December Yes UTC−07:00

MST is in effect for part of the year and not for the rest — the table shows exactly which months. The change happens on the clock-change dates, not on the first of a month, so a month that straddles a change (March or October/November) is on one offset at the start and the other at the end. The UTC converter shows the offset in effect on any date.

What time is it when it is 09:00 MST?

Nine in the morning is the start of the working day, so it is the time that matters for meetings. When it is 09:00 MST on 15 January 2026, the time in eight major cities is:

City Local time at 09:00 MST
New York 11:00 am
London 4:00 pm
Paris 5:00 pm
Dubai 8:00 pm
Mumbai 9:30 pm
Tokyo 1:00 am
Sydney 3:00 am
Los Angeles 8:00 am

MST and UTC, worked both ways

Converting from MST to UTC: subtract the offset. 09:00 MST is 4:00 pm UTC, and 15:00 MST is 10:00 pm UTC. Converting from UTC to MST: add the offset. 12:00 UTC is 5:00 am MST, and 18:00 UTC is 11:00 am MST. If the result crosses midnight, the date changes: 4:00 pm is the time in MST when it is 23:00 UTC, and if that is past midnight it is the next day. The UTC converter does both directions for any time and any date.

Common mistakes with MST

The commonest mistake is using MST for the wrong season: writing EST in July, when New York is on EDT, or writing EDT in January, when it is on EST. The second mistake is forgetting the place: EST means different things in North America (UTC−05:00) and Australia (UTC+10:00), and CST means different things in North America (UTC−06:00), China (UTC+08:00) and Cuba (UTC−05:00). The fix for both is the same: write the offset with the abbreviation, and check the date. The time zone converter shows the offset for any city on any date, so there is no need to guess.

Frequently asked questions

What does MST stand for?

Mountain Standard Time. It is UTC−07:00 from UTC, and it is used in North America, in Phoenix, Denver, Anchorage (in winter, Alaska uses AKST).

What is the UTC offset of MST?

UTC−07:00. That means MST is 7 hours behind UTC: when it is 12:00 UTC it is 5:00 am MST.

When is MST used?

In winter, as the standard time. In summer the same places move one hour forward and use the daylight saving abbreviation instead.

What cities use MST?

Phoenix, Denver, Anchorage (in winter, Alaska uses AKST). MST is the winter time of the Mountain Time Zone — and the year-round time of Phoenix, Arizona, which opted out of daylight saving in 1968.

How do I convert MST to my time?

Convert MST to UTC first — subtract UTC−07:00 — then add your own offset. Or use the UTC converter: enter the time in MST and it gives the time in any city.

Is MST the same as UTC?

No. MST is UTC−07:00 from UTC, and it is used all year — it has no daylight saving counterpart.

What time is it in MST now?

The UTC converter shows the current time in MST live — it is UTC plus UTC−07:00. Because MST is only in effect for part of the year, the converter shows the offset in effect today, not the one in effect in another season.

Related pages

Sources

  • IANA Time Zone Database, via Node.js Intl (Intl.DateTimeFormat with timeZone) — offsets, daylight saving dates and local times in this article were worked out from the IANA database, not typed from memory.
  • TimeFlow's own time-zone data (data/cities.ts, data/dst.ts), computed from the IANA database.
  • Time zone rules and offsets: the IANA Time Zone Database, as applied by this site's tools. Offsets on this page are computed from the database for the dates stated.
  • TimeFlow's UTC converter and time zone converter — the live tools behind the numbers on this page.
  • Time-zone and daylight saving rules are set by governments and can change. For flights, deadlines and meetings that cannot move, confirm the time with an official source.