Juneau, United States · UTC-8 ☆

Juneau is Alaska’s capital city, accessible only by air or sea. No road connects it to the rest of North America’s highway network. It runs on Alaska Standard Time, UTC-9 in winter and Alaska Daylight Time, UTC-8, in summer.

At UTC-9, Juneau is 9 hours behind London in winter and 8 hours behind in summer. It is 4 hours behind New York in winter, 3 in summer. The timezone gap makes coordinating with the federal government in Washington a daily arithmetic exercise for Alaska state officials.

Extreme seasonal daylight at 58 North

Juneau sits at 58.3 degrees North latitude. At the summer solstice, the city gets over 18 hours of daylight. At the winter solstice, less than 7 hours. This swing is among the most dramatic for any US city.

The long summer days mean that outdoor activities, fishing, hiking, and tourism, run until 10pm without artificial light. The short winter days create challenges: businesses compress outdoor work into the limited light, and seasonal affective disorder is common.

Rain and the Southeast Alaska schedule

Juneau is one of the rainiest capitals in the United States, receiving over 60 inches of rain annually. Weather shapes the schedule here more than the clock. Flights in and out of Juneau are frequently delayed or diverted by fog and low clouds. Fishing boats set out when conditions allow rather than on fixed departure times.

Convert 9am Juneau time to other cities.

Sources

• IANA Time Zone Database
• Alaska Department of Commerce
• Naske, Claus-M., and Herman E. Slotnick. Alaska: A History. University of Oklahoma Press, 2011.