Convert CST to WET Central Standard Time ↔ Western European Time Free Online Secure
Type a time in CST and read it in WET straight away. The offset is +6 h, the arithmetic wraps at midnight, and the answer says which day it lands on.
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Through the day — Convert CST to WET (Central Standard Time ↔ Western European Time)
| CST | WET |
|---|---|
| 00:00 | 06:00 |
| 03:00 | 09:00 |
| 06:00 | 12:00 |
| 09:00 | 15:00 |
| 12:00 | 18:00 |
| 15:00 | 21:00 |
| 18:00 | 00:00 |
| 21:00 | 03:00 |
Where these units come from
Until the middle of the nineteenth century every town kept its own noon, set by the sun overhead, and nobody minded that the next town was four minutes behind. Railways ended that: a timetable cannot be written for a hundred local noons. Britain put its railways on Greenwich time in 1847, and in 1884 the International Meridian Conference in Washington chose Greenwich as the prime meridian and sketched the twenty-four-hour scheme we still use. Greenwich Mean Time was the world's reference until 1972, when Coordinated Universal Time replaced it: UTC is kept by atomic clocks and tied back to the turning Earth by leap seconds. The abbreviations on this page name standard time — the winter setting — which is why each one is a fixed number of hours rather than something that drifts through the year.
Where you meet them
A time zone becomes real the moment two people in different places have to agree on one moment: a call between offices, a flight that lands before it took off, a market that opens while you are asleep, a deadline written in somebody else's afternoon. Server logs, train and flight schedules and anything stamped with a time are kept in UTC precisely so that the question can always be settled, no matter whose clock was on the wall.
Questions people ask
What about summer time?
The offsets here are standard-time offsets, the ones a zone keeps in winter. Where summer time is observed, the same places move one hour further on for part of the year and take a different name: Central European Time becomes Central European Summer Time, Eastern Standard Time becomes Eastern Daylight Time. The switching dates are not the same in every country, and the two hemispheres change in opposite months, so for a date inside a summer-time period add an hour to whichever side observes it.
Why isn't every difference a whole number of hours?
Because offsets are decided by governments, not by geometry. India is half an hour off the hour, at UTC+05:30; Nepal is three quarters, at UTC+05:45; the Chatham Islands are at UTC+12:45. Any of these can be changed by law, and several countries have moved their offset within living memory.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
The green river in Chicago and the clock in Dublin
On the Saturday before St Patrick’s Day the Chicago river is dyed green at 9:00 a.m. CT, and the parade sets off at noon. The Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans begins at 8:00 a.m. CT. A Bulls game tips off at 7:00 p.m. CT. Anyone following those moments from Dublin, London or Lisbon has to convert CST to WET. On standard time the calculation fits on one line: add six hours. 9:00 a.m. CST becomes 15:00 WET, 8:00 a.m. CST becomes 14:00 WET, and 7:00 p.m. CST becomes 01:00 WET the next day. The six-hour figure is also the summer one, between CDT and European summer time; only between 8 and 28 March and between 25 and 31 October does it fall to five.
The sections below set out the rule, the tables and a description of the two zones, followed by episodes from carnivals, music, sport, shipping and trade. Everything is calculated in your browser; no figure leaves it.
St Patrick’s Day in Chicago
Dyeing the river
The river is usually dyed green on the Saturday before the holiday, around 9:00 a.m. CT. In 2026 that is 14 March, when America is already on summer time and Ireland is not: the hour means 14:00 GMT, five hours away rather than six.
The parade
The parade sets off at 12:00 CT, which is 17:00 GMT the same day. The Irish see it at teatime. A “convert CST to WET” calculation with the date in view shows that in March the gap is different.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans
Morning parades
The first parade on Mardi Gras day sets off at 8:00 a.m. CST, which is 14:00 GMT. Britons and Irish watch it in the afternoon.
Midday parades
The carnival king’s parade, at 10:00 a.m. CST, is at 16:00 GMT. Evening shows at 7:00 p.m. CST are at 01:00 GMT the following night.
Basketball in Chicago
Evening games
A Bulls game that starts at 7:00 p.m. CST starts at 01:00 GMT in the small hours. British fans who want it live stay up or set an alarm.
Weekend games
A Sunday game at 2:00 p.m. CST starts at 20:00 GMT. For Britons it is an evening game, finishing around 22:30.
The Chicago marathon seen from Britain
The October start
The October marathon starts at 7:30 a.m. CDT, which is 13:30 BST. Londoners follow it from lunchtime onward.
The finish
An elite runner finishes in about two hours, at 9:30 a.m. CDT, which is 15:30 BST. A “convert CST to WET” calculation made beforehand shows when to open the broadcast.
The Chicago blues festival
Evening concerts
A Saturday-evening concert starting at 6:00 p.m. CDT begins at 00:00 BST. Anyone following from Western Europe stays up until the British midnight.
Afternoon sets
The main stage usually opens around 12:00 CDT, which is 18:00 BST. A British reader catches it at dinner.
Austin City Limits
The festival evening
The main concert of the evening, at 8:00 p.m. CDT, starts at 02:00 BST. British fans watch it in a repeat in the morning.
The afternoon programme
A band at 3:00 p.m. CDT plays at 21:00 BST. A “convert CST to WET” calculation tells you at once whether you can watch in the evening, after work.
The Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City
Parade time
The Day of the Dead parade sets off around midday, at 12:00 CST, which is 18:00 GMT. Mexico does not change its clocks, and in November Britain is on standard time too, so the gap is six hours.
In the warm months
A Mexican event at 12:00 in July is at 19:00 BST, seven hours away, because Mexico does not go onto summer time while Britain does.
How to convert CST to WET
Add six
CST is UTC−6 and WET is UTC+0. London, Dublin and Lisbon are six hours ahead of American Central time. Take the American time on a 24-hour clock and add 6; if the total passes 24, subtract 24 and go to the next day. That happens for every time from 18:00 onward.
Eight values to check
01:00 CST is 07:00 WET. 05:30 CST is 11:30 WET. 09:00 CST is 15:00 WET. 12:00 CST is 18:00 WET. 15:45 CST is 21:45 WET. 18:00 CST is 00:00 WET the next day. 20:15 CST is 02:15 WET the next day. 23:30 CST is 05:30 WET the next day. The last three roll over to the next day.
With summer time
On CDT against WEST the six-hour gap remains: 10:00 a.m. CDT is 16:00 WEST. Only in the two short stretches when America or Western Europe has moved its clocks and the other has not does the figure become five.
America’s Central clock in brief
The places
In winter the clocks in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Nashville, Winnipeg and all over Mexico read UTC−6. With spring the American states advance to UTC−5, called CDT.
The ones that stay put
Mexico and Saskatchewan keep their clocks all year. Measured from London they stand six hours back in winter and seven in summer.
Western Europe’s clock
Where it rules
Zero offset from UTC is the winter rule for mainland Portugal, Madeira, the Canaries and the Faroes, under the label WET. Britain and Ireland also sit on that offset in winter and say GMT, while Iceland has no summer change at all. Summer moves the others one hour forward, to WEST (UTC+1), for the span between the final Sundays of March and October.
One island group apart
The Azores stay an hour behind the Portuguese mainland, which puts them five hours from American Central time in every season.
Six hours, dial to dial
Working hours
When a Chicago office is open, from 09:00 to 17:00, the London clock reads 15:00 to 23:00. When a London office is open from 09:00 to 17:00, the Chicago clock reads 03:00 to 11:00. The two working days overlap for two hours, from 15:00 to 17:00 WET.
Who rings first
A call placed in London at 15:00 WET rings at 9:00 a.m. CST. One placed at 12:00 WET rings at 6:00 a.m. CST, too early for many.
Across the Atlantic
A flight from Chicago to London that leaves at 17:00 CST and takes nearly eight hours lands at 01:00 CST, which is 07:00 WET the next day. The ticket shows 17:00 and 07:00, as for a journey of fourteen hours.
Oil and gas: Texas and the North Sea
The market timetable
An oil trading session that starts at 8:00 a.m. CST starts at 14:00 WET. London traders work in the second half of their day.
Reports
A report on American stocks published at 9:30 a.m. CST appears at 15:30 WET. A “convert CST to WET” calculation shows at once that it falls two hours before a British exchange closes.
Dated examples
January
On Wednesday 28 January, 09:00 CST reads 15:00 GMT. Both zones are on standard time.
March
On Wednesday 11 March, 09:00 CDT reads 14:00 GMT. America moved to summer time on 8 March and the United Kingdom only on the 29th, so the real gap is five hours.
July
On Wednesday 29 July, 09:00 CDT reads 15:00 BST. Both are on summer time, and the gap is six hours.
October and December
On Wednesday 28 October, 09:00 CDT reads 14:00 GMT, because the United Kingdom returned to standard time on 25 October and America only on 1 November. On Wednesday 9 December, 09:00 CST reads 15:00 GMT.
The odd weeks of five hours
Spring
America puts its clocks forward on 8 March; Western Europe waits until 28 March. For those three weeks CST-based arithmetic runs one hour long, and the true distance is five.
Autumn
Western Europe falls back on 25 October, America a week later. In that gap week a “convert CST to WET” calculation with the six-hour rule is an hour late.
Staff in Dallas, staff in London
Where the days meet
People in both cities can join a call at 9:00 a.m. CST, which is 15:00 WET: mid-afternoon in London, the opening of the day in Texas.
Putting it on paper
Work that ends at 4:00 p.m. CST arrives in London at 22:00 WET and waits for morning. Doing a “convert CST to WET” calculation at each handover shows why a written note is essential.
Other cities, reckoned from the middle of America
Offsets from Chicago
New York is 1 hour ahead of Chicago, London 6, Berlin 7, Bucharest 8 and Delhi 11 hours 30 minutes. Los Angeles is 2 hours behind.
Writing the invitation
For a call at 10:00 a.m. in Chicago, list 11:00 in New York, 16:00 in London, 17:00 in Berlin and 8:00 in Los Angeles, and nobody will need a “convert CST to WET” calculation.
Distance lessons between universities
Lesson schedule
A lesson at 8:00 a.m. CST starts at 14:00 WET. Students in the Midwest begin their day, those in Britain end theirs.
Deadlines
A deadline of 11:59 p.m. CST expires at 05:59 WET the next day. A British student who takes the deadline to be their own midnight actually has almost six hours more.
Weather alerts from the Plains, read in Ireland
Local time
A warning valid until 9:00 p.m. CT expires at 03:00 WET. Irish readers know that the time on the bulletin is that of the place concerned.
Two hours to check
Each bulletin has a time of issue and a time of expiry. A “convert CST to WET” calculation for both shows how long the alert remains valid.
The state fair in Iowa
Morning at the fair
The August fair opens its gates at 7:00 a.m. CDT, which is 13:00 BST. Virtual visitors from Britain come in during the first part of the afternoon.
Evening concerts
A concert at 8:00 p.m. CDT starts at 02:00 BST the next morning. Anyone who wants to see it live stays up or watches the recording. A “convert CST to WET” calculation made beforehand shows whether it is worth setting the alarm.
When the gap is not the usual one
The 2026 calendar
The gap between CST and WET changes during the year. In 2026: 1 January to 7 March, 29 March to 24 October and 1 November to 31 December: WET is 6 hours ahead of CST; 8 to 28 March and 25 to 31 October: WET is 5 hours ahead of CST.
How to apply it
Summer labels are CDT and WEST. The form above applies the winter gap of 6 hours, so for other periods correct the answer by the difference from the figure listed. Before you convert CST to WET, find the period that contains your date.
A day of conversions at a glance
CST into WET
00:00 CST corresponds to 06:00 WET. 01:00 CST corresponds to 07:00 WET. 02:00 CST corresponds to 08:00 WET. 03:00 CST corresponds to 09:00 WET. 04:00 CST corresponds to 10:00 WET. 05:00 CST corresponds to 11:00 WET. 06:00 CST corresponds to 12:00 WET. 07:00 CST corresponds to 13:00 WET. 08:00 CST corresponds to 14:00 WET. 09:00 CST corresponds to 15:00 WET. 10:00 CST corresponds to 16:00 WET. 11:00 CST corresponds to 17:00 WET. 12:00 CST corresponds to 18:00 WET. 13:00 CST corresponds to 19:00 WET. 14:00 CST corresponds to 20:00 WET. 15:00 CST corresponds to 21:00 WET. 16:00 CST corresponds to 22:00 WET. 17:00 CST corresponds to 23:00 WET. 18:00 CST corresponds to 00:00 WET (next day). 19:00 CST corresponds to 01:00 WET (next day). 20:00 CST corresponds to 02:00 WET (next day). 21:00 CST corresponds to 03:00 WET (next day). 22:00 CST corresponds to 04:00 WET (next day). 23:00 CST corresponds to 05:00 WET (next day).
Using the table
Find the CST hour you need and read off the WET hour beside it. The rows come from the arithmetic behind each request to convert CST to WET. The offset has no minutes in it, so a reading of :45 stays :45 after the conversion. Read these rows as standard-time values and check the period section for dates where the difference changes.
Readings at half past the hour
CST at :30 and the matching WET time
00:30 CST corresponds to 06:30 WET. 01:30 CST corresponds to 07:30 WET. 02:30 CST corresponds to 08:30 WET. 03:30 CST corresponds to 09:30 WET. 04:30 CST corresponds to 10:30 WET. 05:30 CST corresponds to 11:30 WET. 06:30 CST corresponds to 12:30 WET. 07:30 CST corresponds to 13:30 WET. 08:30 CST corresponds to 14:30 WET. 09:30 CST corresponds to 15:30 WET. 10:30 CST corresponds to 16:30 WET. 11:30 CST corresponds to 17:30 WET. 12:30 CST corresponds to 18:30 WET. 13:30 CST corresponds to 19:30 WET. 14:30 CST corresponds to 20:30 WET. 15:30 CST corresponds to 21:30 WET. 16:30 CST corresponds to 22:30 WET. 17:30 CST corresponds to 23:30 WET. 18:30 CST corresponds to 00:30 WET (next day). 19:30 CST corresponds to 01:30 WET (next day). 20:30 CST corresponds to 02:30 WET (next day). 21:30 CST corresponds to 03:30 WET (next day). 22:30 CST corresponds to 04:30 WET (next day). 23:30 CST corresponds to 05:30 WET (next day).
When to use it
Use these rows for events that begin on the half hour. They follow the same arithmetic as the whole-hour table and spare you another calculation. The gap used here is the standard winter one; the period section lists the dates on which it differs.
Odd times, converted
Ten CST times and their WET equivalents
01:05 CST corresponds to 07:05 WET. 03:20 CST corresponds to 09:20 WET. 05:50 CST corresponds to 11:50 WET. 07:35 CST corresponds to 13:35 WET. 10:10 CST corresponds to 16:10 WET. 13:25 CST corresponds to 19:25 WET. 16:40 CST corresponds to 22:40 WET. 19:55 CST corresponds to 01:55 WET (next day). 22:15 CST corresponds to 04:15 WET (next day). 23:05 CST corresponds to 05:05 WET (next day).
Observation
Real schedules are rarely on the hour, so here are ten with awkward minutes. No half-hour is involved in this pair, so the minute figures never change. These rows use the standard (winter) gap; on the dates listed in the period section the gap is different.
Morning, afternoon or night?
From CST to WET, with the time of day
06:00 CST corresponds to 12:00 WET (around midday). 08:00 CST corresponds to 14:00 WET (afternoon). 10:00 CST corresponds to 16:00 WET (afternoon). 12:00 CST corresponds to 18:00 WET (evening). 14:00 CST corresponds to 20:00 WET (evening). 16:00 CST corresponds to 22:00 WET (night). 18:00 CST corresponds to 00:00 WET (night). 20:00 CST corresponds to 02:00 WET (night). 22:00 CST corresponds to 04:00 WET (night).
Why it matters
A conversion is only half the answer: the other half is whether the result is a sensible hour. After you convert CST to WET, check the bracketed word. Winter-time arithmetic applies to these rows; for the dates in the period section, correct the result accordingly.
Before you convert CST to WET: a short checklist
First
Read the labels
Check which CST is meant: China and Cuba use the same letters, but here it is America’s Central Standard Time at UTC−6. Mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Canaries use WET; Britain and Ireland have the same offset but call it GMT in winter.
Use a 24-hour clock
The 24-hour clock avoids a.m. and p.m. slips, so rewrite 4:30 p.m. as 16:30 before anything else. For example, 09:15 CST becomes 15:15 WET.
After the sum
The operation
Add 6 hours. If the result passes midnight, correct the date: readings from 18:00 fall on the next date.
A second example
An evening check: 22:40 CST gives 04:40 WET (next day).
Mistakes when you convert CST to WET
Subtracting instead of adding
Because WET runs ahead of CST, the result must be a later clock reading. An earlier one points to a subtraction.
Losing the date
CST readings from 18:00 fall on the next date. Forgetting to move the date leaves the result 24 hours wrong.
The standard figure in the wrong weeks
On some dates in 2026 the distance between CST and WET differs from the usual one, so read the period list before you apply it.
Confusing the abbreviation
Three countries share the letters CST; only the North American one, UTC−6, is used on this page. WET is used by mainland Portugal, Madeira, the Canary Islands and the Faroe Islands; the Azores are an hour behind.
Quick answers
By how much do CST and WET differ?
6 hours, and WET is ahead of CST. That is the standard figure; on some dates in 2026 it differs, as the period list shows.
How do I convert CST to WET?
Add 6 hours to the CST time, then fix the date if the result passes midnight.
What does 21:45 CST become in WET?
03:45 WET on the next day in the standard period.
Does the answer change during the year?
Yes, on some dates; the period list above shows which.
Does the page keep what I type?
No. The calculation runs in your browser.
Where to go next
Related pages: Convert CST to EST, Convert CST to EET, Convert EET to WET, Convert EST to WET, Convert WET to PST, Convert EST to CST, Convert IST to PST, Convert CET to WET, Convert CET to CST. For the reverse direction, open Convert WET to CST.
That is all there is to it. To convert CST to WET, add 6 hours; nothing leaves your browser.