diff --git a/src/frontmatter/date.js b/src/frontmatter/date.js
index 8b5c11f..0cbe1bb 100644
--- a/src/frontmatter/date.js
+++ b/src/frontmatter/date.js
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@ const luxon = require('luxon');
 const settings = require('../settings');
 
 // get post date, optionally formatted as specified in settings
+// this value is also used for year/month folders, date prefixes, etc. as needed
 module.exports = (post) => {
-	const dateTime = luxon.DateTime.fromRFC2822(post.data.pubDate[0], { zone: 'utc' });
+	const dateTime = luxon.DateTime.fromRFC2822(post.data.pubDate[0], { zone: settings.custom_date_timezone });
 
 	if (settings.custom_date_formatting) {
 		return dateTime.toFormat(settings.custom_date_formatting);
diff --git a/src/settings.js b/src/settings.js
index 2088ecd..02f51db 100644
--- a/src/settings.js
+++ b/src/settings.js
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ exports.image_file_request_delay = 500;
 // overloaded.
 exports.markdown_file_write_delay = 25;
 
+// Specify the timezone used for post dates. See available zone values and examples here:
+// https://moment.github.io/luxon/#/zones?id=specifying-a-zone.
+exports.custom_date_timezone = 'utc';
+
 // Enable this to include time with post dates. For example, "2020-12-25" would become
 // "2020-12-25T11:20:35.000Z".
 exports.include_time_with_date = false;