Twice a year, a recurring meeting that has run at the same time for months suddenly starts an hour early for half the people in it. Nobody changed the meeting. The clocks changed, on different weekends in different countries.
Here is when it happens, what moves, and how to stay ahead of it.
The dates
Autumn 2026
- UK and EU: clocks go back on Sunday, 25 October 2026.
- US and Canada: clocks go back on Sunday, 1 November 2026.
Spring 2027
- US and Canada: clocks go forward on Sunday, 14 March 2027.
- UK and EU: clocks go forward on Sunday, 28 March 2027.
So for one week this autumn and two weeks next spring, the gap between the US and Europe is an hour different from normal.
What that does to the gap
Between 25 October and 1 November 2026:
- New York to London is 4 hours instead of the usual 5.
- Chicago to London is 5 hours instead of 6.
- Los Angeles to London is 7 hours instead of 8.
- New York to Berlin or Paris is 5 hours instead of 6.
A 10 a.m. New York call with London normally lands at 3 p.m. there. That week it lands at 2 p.m.
The places that don't change at all
Many places never use daylight saving time, so their gap to you shifts whenever your clocks change:
- India, China, Japan, Singapore and most of Asia. New York to India is 9 hours 30 minutes until 1 November, then 10 hours 30 minutes.
- Arizona (outside the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii in the US.
- Most of Africa and much of South America.
The places changing the other way
The southern hemisphere moves its clocks forward when the north moves back:
- Most of south-east Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, Adelaide) moved forward on 4 October 2026. Brisbane and Perth do not change.
- New Zealand moved forward on 27 September 2026.
So New York to Sydney went from 14 hours to 15 hours in early October, and becomes 16 hours on 1 November. A team spread across New York, London and Sydney sees its gaps change three times in five weeks.
Why your calendar moves the meeting
A recurring calendar event is tied to the time zone of the person who created it. If a London colleague sets up a weekly 3 p.m. meeting, it stays at 3 p.m. London time. Everyone else's calendar shifts it when the clocks disagree. Your calendar is doing the right thing. The surprise is that it happens on a weekend nobody marked.
Three ways to stay ahead of it
- Put the change dates in your calendar now, for every country your team is in.
- For the weeks in between, say which time wins. "We keep London time" or "we keep New York time." Decide once and tell everyone.
- Check overlap again after each change. A working-hours overlap that was two hours can become one.
Seeing it at a glance
Longitude puts every time zone you care about on one screen: name your clocks ("Dev team, Tokyo"), group them by team or family, and add them to your home screen, Lock Screen or StandBy. The Overlap Finder shows working hours across your time zones on one timeline. The free version covers two zones; Pro covers up to six. Because it follows each city's real clock rules, the overlap updates itself on the weekend the clocks change.
For more on choosing meeting times across zones, read scheduling across time zones.

