Editorial: Falling Back in 2017 with Daylight Savings Time in Brazil

Editorial, by Stone Korshak

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – At midnight on Saturday evening (February 18, 2017) most of Brazil changed their clocks back to observe the end of Daylight Savings Time (DST). Only ten of Brazil’s 26 states go through this process twice a year, as Equatorial Brazil does not observe DST.

It took me a few years to understand how this relates to time changes in the Northern Hemisphere, as their calendars are the opposite, and the dates of the time changes are all different.

So this means that between Rio, and cities like New York and London, there are three different time differences throughout the year. In Brazil’s “winter” season, we are just one hour ahead of New York (EST), when their summer enjoys DST.

The other (almost) half of the year it is Brazil’s DST, and in much of the Northern Hemisphere, they switch back, leaving Rio three hours ahead. It is only in between these dates that Rio is two hours ahead of New York.

Here is the breakdown for those interested in wrapping their heads around it. Brazil Daylight Savings Time in 2017 comes into play on Sunday, February 19th and Sunday, October 15th.

The U.S. Daylight Savings in 2017 is Sunday, March 12th and Sunday, November 5th. So for three weeks in February/March we are two hours ahead, and then again for a few weeks in October/November.

London changes on Sunday, March 26th and Sunday, October 29th, so there is another calculation for when the time changes from two hours behind, to three hours, and then four hours.

DST is observed in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Parana, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais, Goias, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul, and also the Distrito Federal.