If you control the source data, store it as epoch and you can avoid this parsing. Not quite related: Is there any python library that can handle timezone parsi

If you control the source data, store it as epoch and you can avoid this parsing. Not quite related: Is there any python library that can handle timezone parsing, like the java SimpleDateFormat (http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDat...)? The timezone could be in utc offset and short name format (EST, EDT,...). I am surprised that I couldn't find one.