Saint-Pierre, Saint Pierre and Miquelon · UTC-2 ☆

Saint-Pierre is in the Miquelon Time timezone (PMST/UTC-3 in winter, PMDT/UTC-2 in summer), France’s North American territory just 25 kilometers off Newfoundland with its own distinct timezone.

Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a small archipelago 25 kilometers south of Newfoundland that remains French territory. France retained it after the Seven Years’ War, the last fragment of New France on mainland North American shores. The islands are French in culture, language, law, and currency: you can use euros here, 3,500 kilometers from Paris.

The territory uses Miquelon Time, UTC-3 in winter and UTC-2 in summer with daylight saving. The IANA identifier is America/Miquelon. This offset sets Saint-Pierre apart from neighboring Newfoundland (UTC-3:30 in winter) and from the French mainland. It is one of the more unusual timezone choices in the North Atlantic.

Saint-Pierre is a proper French town, misplaced: bakeries, a patisserie, tricolores, Citroëns driven on the right. The population is about 5,500 people. The economy, historically built on cod fishing and fish processing, has declined as North Atlantic stocks collapsed. Some smuggling history remains part of local lore: the prohibition era in the US made Saint-Pierre a convenient transit point for alcohol shipments.

fog, cod, and prohibition smuggling

The fog is constant. The Grand Banks nearby produce the conditions: warm Gulf Stream water meeting cold Labrador Current water. The fog horn at the entrance to the harbor is one of the island’s characteristic sounds.

9am in Saint-Pierre is noon in London in winter.

Sources

• IANA Time Zone Database - America/Miquelon
• Collectivité de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon