What is CST in WAT?
West Africa Time is 6 hours ahead
Central Time is on UTC−5:00 and West Africa Time is on UTC+1:00 right now. Central Time is on daylight saving, so its clocks read CDT. The gap changes during the year — see below.
- Time in Chicago
- 10:47 pm
- Time in Lagos
- 4:47 am
- Difference
- +6 h
- Next clock change
- November 1, 2026
Convert a time
WAT — West Africa Time
4:00 am
Wed, the next day
When the difference changes
Central Time and West Africa Time do not change their clocks on the same dates, so the gap between them is not the same all year. Most converters show only today’s figure. These are the periods ahead:
- Now – November 1, 2026West Africa Time is 6 hours ahead
- November 1, 2026 – March 14, 2027West Africa Time is 7 hours ahead
- March 14, 2027 – onwardsWest Africa Time is 6 hours ahead
Periods shorter than a day are not listed: both zones change at 2am in their own local time, so there are a few hours on each transition date when the gap is briefly something else.
Daylight saving
Central Time
Clocks go back one hour at 2am local time, becoming CST.
West Africa Time
West Africa Time stays on WAT all year, so its offset from UTC never moves.
CST to WAT conversion table
Every hour of Tuesday, September 22, 2026, converted from Central Time to West Africa Time. 6 of the 24 hours fall on a different calendar day in Lagos, which is marked.
- 12:00 am CDT
- 6:00 am WAT
- 1:00 am CDT
- 7:00 am WAT
- 2:00 am CDT
- 8:00 am WAT
- 3:00 am CDT
- 9:00 am WAT
- 4:00 am CDT
- 10:00 am WAT
- 5:00 am CDT
- 11:00 am WAT
- 6:00 am CDT
- 12:00 pm WAT
- 7:00 am CDT
- 1:00 pm WAT
- 8:00 am CDT
- 2:00 pm WAT
- 9:00 am CDT
- 3:00 pm WAT
- 10:00 am CDT
- 4:00 pm WAT
- 11:00 am CDT
- 5:00 pm WAT
- 12:00 pm CDT
- 6:00 pm WAT
- 1:00 pm CDT
- 7:00 pm WAT
- 2:00 pm CDT
- 8:00 pm WAT
- 3:00 pm CDT
- 9:00 pm WAT
- 4:00 pm CDT
- 10:00 pm WAT
- 5:00 pm CDT
- 11:00 pm WAT
- 6:00 pm CDT
- 12:00 am WAT+1 day
- 7:00 pm CDT
- 1:00 am WAT+1 day
- 8:00 pm CDT
- 2:00 am WAT+1 day
- 9:00 pm CDT
- 3:00 am WAT+1 day
- 10:00 pm CDT
- 4:00 am WAT+1 day
- 11:00 pm CDT
- 5:00 am WAT+1 day
Scheduling between the two
Working hours overlap from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm CDT, which is 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm WAT. Anything inside that window falls in the normal working day at both ends.
A note on CST: it can also mean China Standard Time (UTC+8) and Cuba Standard Time (UTC−5). This page means US Central Time.
Central Time (CDT) is used in Dallas, Houston, Mexico City and Winnipeg
West Africa Time (WAT) is used in Nigeria, Algeria, Angola and Cameroon