# Daylight Savings Time in Europe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-in-europe/167173 "2003-04-07T22:10:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Longhorn49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Longhorn49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longhorn49)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-in-europe/167173/1 "2003-04-07T22:10:33Z")
Does Europe set their clocks ahead when the U.S does? How about other countries in the Northern hemisphere? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-in-europe/167173/2 "2003-04-07T22:18:06Z")
The clocks in the U.K.\* changed last week. I always find the changeover most confusing, in terms of internet chat etc. - um, well, apart from one of mine, which I only changed today! ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-in-europe/167173/3 "2003-04-07T22:28:33Z")
All countries in the European Union change clocks forward at last Sunday of March, and backward at the end of October. Many other European nations do that too. I think most folks find this whole business unnecessary, and there are couple of nations that don’t change clocks at all. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-in-europe/167173/4 "2003-04-07T22:48:14Z")
Find the time in all [**European countries**](http://greenwichmeantime.com/local/europe/spain/). Europe is so much closer to the Arctic Circle than the United States, which means it gets dark there later (a lot later). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Swagman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Swagman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swagman)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-in-europe/167173/5 "2003-04-07T23:21:35Z")
Most of Aus changed their clocks last weekend as well (FWIW). Does anyone know offhand if the clocks changed in Iraq? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-in-europe/167173/6 "2003-04-07T23:50:31Z")
There are many different DST rules in effect in various countries: [http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/g.html](http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/g.html) Some of these defy automated calculation. You will note that Israel decides the switch date every year (!). North America works like the US, except for Cuba, which has its own rule, and Greenland, which follows the EU rule. An unfortunate truth is that a lot of software which automatically handles DST assumes the US rule. It gets really wierd when you try to handle historical dates, with DST being recognized, not recognized, suspended, and temporarily modified for various periods in various locales. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-savings-time-in-europe/167173/7 "2003-04-07T23:53:02Z")
Oh, and that link says Iraq is April 1 - October 1, so presumably, it changed a few days ago.