CAT — Central Africa Time
CAT is Central Africa Time, 2 hours ahead of UTC. It is a fixed offset: unlike a time zone, it does not change with the season — the zones that use it switch to a different abbreviation instead.
Current time in CAT
09:46
Sunday, 2 August 2026
CAT = UTC+2 · 2 hours ahead of UTC
Shown for 2 Aug 2026 07:46 UTC. The clock goes live as soon as scripts load.
UTC offset
UTC+2
Type
Standard time
Seasonal counterpart
None
The zones using it do not change their clocks
Meanings
1
Unambiguous
Is CAT in force right now?
A zone only carries this abbreviation for part of the year. This is which of them were on it at 2 Aug 2026 07:46 UTC; the list is re-derived against your own clock when scripts load.
On CAT now
- Africa/Harare — Harare
Using a different abbreviation
- Every zone listed here was on CAT.
Convert CAT to other time zones
City clocks reflect whatever their zone is doing; where a city observes daylight saving time, its difference from CAT changes twice a year. Use the time zone converter for a specific date.
Time zones and cities that use CAT
Central Africa Time · UTC+2
Why CAT is not an identifier
CAT is shorthand, not a standard. There is no registry of time zone abbreviations, no authority that assigns them, and nothing preventing two regions from adopting the same three letters — which is what makes codes like IST and CST unusable without context.
For anything a machine will read — a calendar invitation, a database column, an API response — use the IANA identifier of the zone (Africa/Harare, for example) or an explicit UTC offset alongside the date. The identifier survives a change in the law; CAT and its 2 hours offset do not.
Abbreviations on the same clock
Frequently asked questions
What does CAT stand for?
CAT stands for Central Africa Time. It is 2 hours ahead of UTC, written UTC+2.
What is CAT in UTC?
CAT is UTC+2. To convert an CAT time to UTC, subtract 2 hours.
Which time zone should I use instead of CAT?
Use an IANA identifier — Africa/Harare for Central Africa Time — or state the UTC offset with the date. Abbreviations are not identifiers: they are not unique, they are not registered anywhere, and half of them change with the season. Calendar software resolves this automatically when you pick a city rather than typing letters.