British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and northwestern Ontario stopped changing their clocks on Nov 1, 2026. If your Mac has old time zone rules, or its location setting is off, it can fall back an hour anyway, or show US time. Here's how to check and fix it.
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Go to System Settings › General › Software Update, install what's waiting and restart. Apple ships time zone changes inside macOS updates.
Go to System Settings › General › Date & Time. Switch on Set time and date automatically and Set time zone automatically using your current location.
Go to System Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services, make sure it's on, scroll to System Services, click Details and switch on Setting time zone.
Back in Date & Time, the closest city should be in your region. See the table below.
Outlook for Mac has its own time zone handling and may show meetings an hour off after Nov 1 until Microsoft updates it. If a meeting looks wrong, check it in Outlook on the web before changing anything.
Restart your Mac and reload this page. The clock check at the top should say your device is ready.
| If you're in | Your clock should be | Pick this city if asked |
|---|---|---|
| Most of BC | UTC−7 all year | Vancouver |
| Alberta, BC's East Kootenay (Cranbrook, Fernie), the NWT | UTC−6 all year | Edmonton or Calgary |
| Manitoba, northwestern Ontario (Kenora) | UTC−5 all year | Winnipeg |
Your Mac doesn't look up the rules online. It carries a built-in rulebook of every time zone, and it only learns about changes like British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and northwestern Ontario dropping daylight saving time when that rulebook gets updated. Two things go wrong:
The rulebook is old. If the device hasn't been updated, it still expects your area to "fall back" on Nov 1, 2026, and your clock will be an hour behind until March.
It thinks you're somewhere else. With location-based time zone turned off, your Mac keeps whatever time zone it last had, or takes a guess from your mobile network or Wi-Fi. After a trip to Seattle, or near a border like Lloydminster, Creston or Kenora, that guess is often wrong.
Older devices that no longer get updates may never learn the new rules. As a stopgap, turn off Set time zone automatically and choose a closest city of pick a place that's already on the right time all year:
Your clock will be right, but the city name won't be, and calendar apps may show some meeting times strangely. Some workplaces ask staff not to do this, so check with your IT team first, and switch back to your real city once an update arrives.
Outlook for Mac does its own time zone conversion. Check the meeting in Outlook on the web. If it is right there, wait for the Outlook update instead of moving the meeting.
Yes. Time zone rule changes take full effect after a restart.
British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and northwestern Ontario stopped changing their clocks. Most of BC is UTC−7 all year, Alberta and the NWT are UTC−6, and Manitoba is UTC−5. Read the full explainer.