Casablanca Time Now

What this page shows

So you want to know what time it is in Casablanca right now. Maybe you have a call with someone in Morocco, a flight to catch, a match kicking off on local time, or someone to reach before their evening is over. That is what the clock at the top of this page is for. It shows the current time in Casablanca and ticks forward every second, so there is nothing for you to work out by hand.

Wherever in the world you are reading this from, the clock tracks Casablanca and keeps itself right on its own. Morocco's clock works in an unusual way, changing only around Ramadan rather than following a normal spring-and-autumn daylight saving pattern.

Casablanca changes its clock only for Ramadan

Here is the part worth knowing about Casablanca time, and it is unlike anywhere else on this site. For most of the year, Morocco stays on a fixed clock, one hour ahead of UTC, at UTC plus 1. It does not do the usual twice-a-year daylight saving. But there is one exception: for the month of Ramadan, the country moves its clocks back an hour to UTC plus 0, and then forward again to UTC plus 1 once Ramadan has passed.

So Morocco's clock has two settings, but the switch is tied to the religious calendar rather than the seasons:

• UTC plus 1. The usual setting, kept for most of the year.
• UTC plus 0. The Ramadan setting, kept for roughly the month of Ramadan, before the clock returns to UTC plus 1.

Because Ramadan follows the lunar Islamic calendar, it falls about eleven days earlier each year on the ordinary calendar, so there is no fixed date for the change. The clock above follows whichever setting is in force, so you never have to track it yourself.

What time zone Casablanca is in

Casablanca runs on Morocco's national clock, one hour ahead of UTC for most of the year, at UTC plus 1. Morocco moved to this fixed offset in 2018, having previously kept UTC plus 0 with seasonal daylight saving. It now holds UTC plus 1 year-round, apart from the Ramadan exception above.

That offset places Morocco an hour ahead of the UTC and Greenwich line, even though the country sits well to the west, out on the Atlantic coast of Africa. By longitude, Casablanca would sit naturally close to UTC plus 0, so keeping UTC plus 1 means the clock runs a good way ahead of the sun, a point the facts section picks up. It is the same offset as Central Europe keeps in winter, so for much of the year Casablanca and cities like Paris and Madrid read close to the same time.

Time difference from Casablanca to other cities

For most of the year Casablanca is on UTC plus 1, and the table below assumes that. The places that use daylight saving, like Europe and New York, shift by an hour against it when they change. Here is the quick reference, assuming it is 12 noon in Casablanca outside Ramadan.

During Ramadan, when Morocco drops back to UTC plus 0, Casablanca is an hour earlier than usual, so every city in the table sits an hour further ahead of it than shown. The live clock at the top always reflects whichever setting is in force.

A few quick examples

Let us run a few, so you can see how this works.

Say it is 12 noon in Casablanca, on the usual UTC plus 1 setting. UTC is an hour behind at 11 in the morning, and London too, at 11, in the European winter. Dubai is three hours ahead at 3 in the afternoon, and Mumbai four and a half hours ahead at 4:30.

One neat case: when the UK and Europe move to summer time, Casablanca lines up differently. London, an hour behind in winter, draws level on UTC plus 1, while Paris, level in winter, pulls an hour ahead. So Casablanca quietly shifts its place among the European clocks across the year, even though its own clock has not moved.

A couple of things about Casablanca time

Casablanca sits at about 34 degrees north, on the Atlantic coast, so the length of the day swings a fair amount across the year. Around midsummer there are roughly fourteen and a half hours between sunrise and sunset, while around midwinter that drops to a little under ten hours.

On the clock-against-sun question, Casablanca runs well ahead of the sun for most of the year. Keeping UTC plus 1 from a position out on the Atlantic coast puts the clock around an hour and a half ahead of where the city's longitude would place it, so the sun reaches its highest at around half past one in the afternoon by the clock rather than at noon. This is part of what the Ramadan change addresses: dropping back to UTC plus 0 brings the clock an hour closer to the sun, so that sunset, and the breaking of the fast, comes at an earlier reading on the clock through the fasting month.

Other places to compare

For most of the year Casablanca shares the Central European winter offset, UTC plus 1. Here are some useful comparisons to jump to:

• Paris time now, level for much of the year
• London time now, an hour behind or level
• UTC Time Now, the global reference

Questions people ask

What time is it in Casablanca right now?

The clock near the top of this page is the answer, and it updates every second. Morocco stays on UTC plus 1 for most of the year and drops to UTC plus 0 for Ramadan, and the clock follows whichever is in force, so the time shown is always correct.

Why does Morocco change its clock for Ramadan?

Morocco moves its clocks back an hour to UTC plus 0 for the month of Ramadan, then forward to UTC plus 1 afterwards. Bringing the clock an hour closer to the sun shifts sunset, and the breaking of the daily fast, to an earlier reading on the clock through the fasting month.

Does Casablanca use normal daylight saving?

No. Morocco dropped seasonal daylight saving in 2018 and now keeps a fixed UTC plus 1 for most of the year. The only change is the move to UTC plus 0 for Ramadan, which is tied to the religious calendar, not the seasons.

What time zone is Casablanca in?

Morocco's national clock, UTC plus 1 for most of the year, dropping to UTC plus 0 during Ramadan. The usual setting is the same offset as Central Europe keeps in winter.

What is the time difference between Casablanca and London?

For most of the year London is an hour behind Casablanca, drawing level when the UK is on summer time. During Ramadan, with Morocco on UTC plus 0, the two are closer still.

What is the IANA name for Casablanca time?

It is Africa/Casablanca in the IANA time zone database, the time data your phone and your computer use. It carries the UTC plus 1 offset and the Ramadan changes to UTC plus 0, and it is what drives the live clock on this page.

References

1. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Time Zone Database (the tz database), home of the Africa/Casablanca identifier, including its Ramadan transitions. https://www.iana.org/time-zones
2. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Time Department, which maintains Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the reference Morocco's clock is measured from. https://www.bipm.org/en/work-programme/time
3. International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), which governs UTC and the leap seconds that keep it aligned with the Earth's rotation. https://www.iers.org