Local time · Fort Walton Beach
What time is it in Fort Walton Beach, Florida?
3:50:57AM
- Time zone
- CST
- America/Chicago
- UTC offset
- −6:00
- Standard is −6:00
- Daylight saving
- Not in force
- Starts Sun, Mar 14
- Population
- 21,188
- City proper
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About this clock
Fort Walton Beach does not keep Florida's usual time
Most of Florida is on Eastern Standard Time, but Fort Walton Beach keeps Central Standard Time — 1 hour behind the rest of the state. This is the kind of thing that catches people out, and it is why the zone is resolved from the city’s own coordinates rather than assumed from the state.
Fort Walton Beach is currently on standard time. The next change is Sunday, March 14, 2027, when 2:00 am becomes 3:00 am local time.
Fort Walton Beach sits at 30.42°N, 86.62°W. For sunrise and sunset there — which do depend on exactly where it is, unlike the clock — see sunrise and sunset in Fort Walton Beach.
Clock time against sun time
The clock says the same thing everywhere in Central Standard Time, but the sun does not. Over Fort Walton Beach it is highest at 11:30 am today — 30 minutes before clock noon.
At 86.6°W, Fort Walton Beach sits 14 minutes of solar time east of Central Standard Time’s 90° meridian, so on standard time the sun peaks 14 minutes before noon.
Daylight in Fort Walton Beach today
- Sunrise
- 6:10 am
- Sunset
- 4:50 pm
- Day length
- 10 hours 40 minutes
- Longest day
- 14 hours 7 minutes
Today runs 10 hours 40 minutes in Fort Walton Beach, and the day is getting shorter by 1 minute a day. Across the year it swings 3 hours 56 minutes, from 14 hours 7 minutes at the June solstice down to 10 hours 11 minutes in December.
At 30.4°N that puts Fort Walton Beach between Kailua at 2 hours 22 minutes and Fairbanks at 18 hours 9 minutes.