The timezone AST on the Virgin Islands

Only 1 nationwide time zone

UTC	-4
Standard time:	Atlantic Standard Time (AST)
Daylight saving time:	none

The Virgin Islands have an east-west extent of 0.18 degrees longitude. Given the country's location in Caribbean, this corresponds to about 19 kilometers. With such a small extent the course of the sun at different positions in the country hardly matters. The position of the sun in the west of the country deviates from that in the east only about 44 seconds. This means the sun rises and sets 44 seconds later in the west than in the east.


The Atlantic Standard Time also applies in Anguilla, , Aruba, Barbados, in parts of Canada, in Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Antigua and Barbuda, Caribbean Netherlands, Saint Martin, St. Martin, Martinique, Montserrat, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, in parts of Greenland, on the British Virgin Islands and in the Bermudas.

No daylight saving time on the Virgin Islands

Due to the sun's orbit around the equator, the days are longer in summer (June to September in the northern hemisphere). Countries that switch to daylight saving time in the summer months align the daylight phase with the human rhythm. Unused bright morning hours are thus shifted into the evening (more information on daylight saving time here).

Due to the relative proximity to the equator, the impact on the Virgin Islands is not particularly large. Charlotte Amalie is only 2,050 km from the equator. A day in midsummer would then not last from 05:43 to 18:59, but from 06:43 to 19:59. The effect would be quite noticeable in the evening, but the sun rising later in the morning falls at a time when many people are already awake. Thus, daylight saving time was never introduced on the Virgin Islands.