Planning dates run from Thu, Jan 1, 2026 through Mon, Dec 31, 2035. Future rules can be revised; review the data version when a distant schedule matters.
More context and planning advice
Central time is a date-specific rule set
Chicago is one hour behind New York and two hours ahead of Los Angeles on each sample date in the table. That relationship makes it a useful middle row for a continental US call. It does not make UTC−06:00 a permanent setting: the July and October examples use UTC−05:00.
A dated view of the local clock
Four examples at 13:00 UTC, calculated with IANA 2026f. These are selected dates, not a live clock.
UTC date
UTC offset
Abbreviation
Local date and time
2026-01-15
UTC−06:00
CST
Thu, 15 Jan 2026 · 07:00
2026-07-15
UTC−05:00
CDT
Wed, 15 Jul 2026 · 08:00
2026-10-27
UTC−05:00
CDT
Tue, 27 Oct 2026 · 08:00
2026-11-03
UTC−06:00
CST
Tue, 3 Nov 2026 · 07:00
Give the full meeting a place in the window
At 09:00 in Chicago on 27 October 2026, New York reads 10:00 and Los Angeles reads 07:00. Moving the meeting to 11:00 Chicago brings Los Angeles to 09:00, but still check the end time against the eastern participant’s availability. A start that works is only half the decision.
Build a plan for this city
Select Chicago, add the other participants, and enter the actual meeting date. The planner uses America/Chicago; the abbreviation in the table is a display label. Adjust working days, hours, and meeting length before choosing a shared window. The supported planning range is 2026–2035.