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There are two time zones in the Pacific Northwest:

Pacific Standard Time (PST) = GMT-0800 (minus 8 hours from Greenwich Mean Time, the previous day)

Mountain Standard Time (MST) =  GMT-0700 (minus 7 hours from Greenwich Mean Time, the previous day)

Washington, and most of British Columbia, Oregon and Idaho lie within the Pacific time zone.  Montana and small parts of British Columbia (along the Alberta border), Oregon (along the Idaho border) and Idaho lie within the evocatively-named Mountain time zone.  The divide in north Idaho occurs along the Salmon River, where it runs pretty much due west through the central Idaho wilderness (where few people live) before continuing down through Oregon. Northern Idaho, which relates commercially to the state of Washington, is on Pacific Time, while the rest of the state, including Boise, is on Mountain Time.

Daylight Savings Time, also known as "Summer Time" is observed during summer when clocks are set forward one hour at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and are set back one hour at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October.  (This is slightly different from the European daylight savings schedule.)

Mountain Daylight Savings Time (MDT) = GMT-0600 (minus 6 hours from Greenwich Mean Time, the previous day)
Pacific Daylight Savings Time (PDT) = GMT-0700 (minus 7 hours from Greenwich Mean Time, the previous day)

Official U.S. Time - clock
Pacific Time Zone, Coordinated Universal Time -8 hours; Not Daylight Saving Time.  This public service is cooperatively provided by the two time agencies of the United States: a Department of Commerce agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and its military counterpart, the U. S. Naval Observatory (USNO). Readings from the clocks of these agencies contribute to world time, called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Time Zone Converter
Find out what the time is compared to the Pacific Northwest.  Input your own time zone location and choose America/Vancouver for Pacific Time, or America/Boise for Mountain Time.  You can do a conversion for current, past and future times.  Useful for figuring out those flight arrival times, or when to phone home.

US Naval Observatory Master Clock time
An official, basic, but easy-to-read display of current times for all USA time zones.   Look for Pacific and Mountain Time.

United States of America
Map of the USA showing time zones and current times.  Note the division across Idaho.   Supplied by Alexander Krivenyshev at WorldTimeZone.  You might need to refresh the page to get the updated times.

World Time Server
Choose a destination and you get the current time for that place, including adjustments for daylight savings.  (Web site by iSBiSTER International.)  Here is their search box:

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Revised: January 20, 2010.