diff --git a/R/fetchSCAN.R b/R/fetchSCAN.R
index 9201bb54..3f379530 100644
--- a/R/fetchSCAN.R
+++ b/R/fetchSCAN.R
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 #' 
 #' This function converts below-ground sensor depth from inches to cm. All temperature values are reported as degrees C. Precipitation, snow depth, and snow water content are reported as *inches*.
 #' 
-#' Times are converted to the time zone of the *first* station specified in `site.code`.
+#' The `datetime` column in sensor data results is converted to the target time zone specified in `tz` argument, the default is `"US/Central"`. Use `tz = "UTC"` (or other `OlsonNames()` that do not use daylight savings, e.g. `"US/Arizona"`) to avoid having a mix of time offsets due to daylight savings time.
 #' 
 #' ## SCAN Sensors
 #'
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@
 #' 
 #' @param timeseries either `'Daily'` or `'Hourly'`
 #' 
+#' @param tz Target timezone to convert `datetime` columns of results. Default: `"US/Central"`.
+#' 
 #' @param ... additional arguments. May include `intervalType`, `format`, `sitenum`, `interval`, `year`, `month`. Presence of additional arguments bypasses default batching functionality provided in the function and submits a 'raw' request to the API form.
 #' 
 #' @return a `list` of `data.frame` objects, where each element name is a sensor type, plus a `metadata` table; different `report` types change the types of sensor data returned. `SCAN_sensor_metadata()` and `SCAN_site_metadata()` return a `data.frame`. `NULL` on bad request.
@@ -109,7 +111,7 @@
 #' }
 #' @rdname fetchSCAN
 #' @export
-fetchSCAN <- function(site.code = NULL, year = NULL, report = 'SCAN', timeseries = c('Daily', 'Hourly'), ...) {
+fetchSCAN <- function(site.code = NULL, year = NULL, report = 'SCAN', timeseries = c('Daily', 'Hourly'), tz = "US/Central", ...) {
   
   # check for required packages
   if (!requireNamespace('httr', quietly = TRUE))
@@ -199,7 +201,8 @@ fetchSCAN <- function(site.code = NULL, year = NULL, report = 'SCAN', timeseries
           d, 
           code = sensor.i, 
           meta = m.i, 
-          hourlyFlag = (timeseries == 'Hourly')
+          hourlyFlag = (timeseries == 'Hourly'),
+          tz = tz
         )
       }
       
@@ -236,7 +239,7 @@ fetchSCAN <- function(site.code = NULL, year = NULL, report = 'SCAN', timeseries
 }
 
 # combine soil sensor suites into stackable format
-.formatSCAN_soil_sensor_suites <- function(d, code, meta, hourlyFlag) {
+.formatSCAN_soil_sensor_suites <- function(d, code, meta, hourlyFlag, tz) {
   
   value <- NULL
   
@@ -324,19 +327,13 @@ fetchSCAN <- function(site.code = NULL, year = NULL, report = 'SCAN', timeseries
     }
   }
   
-  ## create datetime stamp + timezone if hourly data
-  # GMT offset from current station metadata.. maybe faster to do this in bulk
-  
-  # setup timezone code
-  # odd, but we have to negate the offset from GMT here
-  # trust me it works
-  .tz <- sprintf('etc/gmt+%s', -meta$dataTimeZone)
-  
-  # create datetime stamp + timezone
-  res$datetime <- as.POSIXct(strptime(paste(res$Date, res$Time), "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"), tz = .tz)
+  # setup signed offset in hours and minutes from UTC, e.g. -0800 is 8 hours behind
+  .so <- formatC(meta$dataTimeZone * 100, 4, flag = 0)
   
-  ## TODO: implement user-supplied TZ
-  # format(res$datetime, tz = .userTZ, usetz = TRUE)
+  # create datetime stamp standardized to user-specified timezone
+  res$datetime <- as.POSIXct(strftime(paste(res$Date, res$Time, .so), "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M %z"),
+                             format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M %z",
+                             tz = tz)
   
   return(res)
 }
diff --git a/man/fetchSCAN.Rd b/man/fetchSCAN.Rd
index 6fa096ff..4455c750 100644
--- a/man/fetchSCAN.Rd
+++ b/man/fetchSCAN.Rd
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ fetchSCAN(
   year = NULL,
   report = "SCAN",
   timeseries = c("Daily", "Hourly"),
+  tz = "US/Central",
   ...
 )
 
@@ -27,6 +28,8 @@ SCAN_site_metadata(site.code = NULL)
 
 \item{timeseries}{either \code{'Daily'} or \code{'Hourly'}}
 
+\item{tz}{Target timezone to convert \code{datetime} columns of results. Default: \code{"US/Central"}.}
+
 \item{...}{additional arguments. May include \code{intervalType}, \code{format}, \code{sitenum}, \code{interval}, \code{year}, \code{month}. Presence of additional arguments bypasses default batching functionality provided in the function and submits a 'raw' request to the API form.}
 }
 \value{
@@ -40,7 +43,7 @@ Possible above and below ground sensor types include: 'SMS' (soil moisture), 'ST
 
 This function converts below-ground sensor depth from inches to cm. All temperature values are reported as degrees C. Precipitation, snow depth, and snow water content are reported as \emph{inches}.
 
-Times are converted to the time zone of the \emph{first} station specified in \code{site.code}.
+The \code{datetime} column in sensor data results is converted to the target time zone specified in \code{tz} argument, the default is \code{"US/Central"}. Use \code{tz = "UTC"} (or other \code{OlsonNames()} that do not use daylight savings, e.g. \code{"US/Arizona"}) to avoid having a mix of time offsets due to daylight savings time.
 \subsection{SCAN Sensors}{
 
 All Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) sensor measurements are reported hourly.\tabular{lll}{
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-fetchSCAN.R b/tests/testthat/test-fetchSCAN.R
index 6e101dbe..78f713dc 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-fetchSCAN.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-fetchSCAN.R
@@ -60,16 +60,11 @@ test_that("timezone check", {
   
   skip_on_cran()
   
-  # skip on error
   # skip on error
   skip_if(inherits(z, 'try-error') || is.null(z))
   
-  # should be GMT-8, that of the first station (2218)
-  .tz <- table(format(z$SMS$datetime, format = '%Z'))
-  # windows and macos should return '-08'
-  # linux returns c('etc', '-08')
+  # default target timezone is US/Central, including CDT (-0500) and CST (-0600)
+  .tz <- table(format(z$SMS$datetime, format = '%z'))
   
-  # platform agnostic test
-  .test <- any(grepl('-08', names(.tz)))
-  expect_true(.test)
+  expect_equal(names(.tz), c("-0500", "-0600"))
 })