Explain UTC time

It does not match.

[fischermx]

I'm on CDT (-6:00), it is 4:20 pm now.
It is 9:20 UTC, if I rest -6 that gives 3:20, which is not.
Why there is one hour wrong?

[Nybo]

Summertime?

[Demaestro]

Daylight savings time

[fischermx]

I'm studying all this UTC timing for a proyect and I'm getting nuts. I've just realized this un WebmasterWorld and posted it.
So, here, WebmasterWorld shows a list of time zones, which are of course not OFF sets.
I think if the control panel would list offsets, it should not show up any city name, which cause just more confusion. I can set -0500 off set without fear, but when I see it says "NY", it only confuses.

[vincevincevince]

I've never quite figured out what UTC is at all. So far as I know all the time zones and the Universal Day are based on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) - supposedly an average of the natural or sun-driven time as applied at the observatory in Greenwich on the Greenwich Meridian (zero-degrees longditude). Incidentally it was all decided in Washington D.C. at the request of the yanks...

(They also have a nice park in Greenwich with open-air plays in summer)

[Nybo]

There are fairly good articles about UTC and GMT in many different languages on Wikipedia. Universal time is not really confusing in itself. The big confusing factor is Daylight Saving Time, especially if you try to syncronize with someone on the other side of the Equator.

[Essex_boy]

Incidentally it was all decided in Washington D.C. at the request of the yanks... - Explains everything.

[treeline]

For US CDT, the difference from UTC is 6 hours all winter and 5 hours all summer. This is because CDT does daylight savings time and UTC doesn't.

If you are from Indiana, God save you on figuring this out. Though I hear they are finally resolving this unique mess.