What is UTC ?
UTC stands for Universal Time Coordinated, what used to be called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and Zulu Time (Z). This is the time at the Prime Meridian (0° Longitude) given in hours and minutes on a 24 hour clock. For example, 1350 UTC is 13 hours and 50 minutes after midnight or 1:50 PM at the Prime Meridian. The Greenwich Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England (at 0° Longitude) was where naval chronometers (clocks) were set, a critical instrument for calculating longitude. This is why GMT became the standard for world time. Meteorologists have used UTC or GMT times for over a century to ensure that observations taken around the globe are taken simultaneously.
