diff --git a/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md b/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md
index 767d6a436..15274e58b 100644
--- a/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/NEXT_CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 ### Updated
 - Added validation for positive integer configuration properties (RowsFetchedPerBlock, BatchInsertSize, etc.) to prevent hangs and errors when set to zero or negative values.
 - Updated Circuit breaker to be triggered by 429 errors too.
+- Log timestamps now explicitly display timezone.
+- **[Breaking Change]** `PreparedStatement.setTimestamp(int, Timestamp, Calendar)` now properly applies Calendar timezone conversion using LocalDateTime pattern (inline with `getTimestamp`). Previously Calendar parameter was ineffective.
 - Refactored chunk download to keep a sliding window of chunk links. The window advances as the main thread consumes chunks. These changes can be enabled using the connection property EnableStreamingChunkProvider=1. The changes are expected to make chunk download faster and robust. 
 - Added separate circuit breaker to handle 429 from SEA connection creation calls, and fall back to Thrift.
 
@@ -17,6 +19,7 @@
 - Fix driver crash when using `INTERVAL` types.
 - Fix connection failure in restricted environments when `LogLevel.OFF` is used.
 - Fix U2M by including SDK OAuth HTML callback resources.
+- Removes dangerous global timezone modification that caused race conditions.
 - Fix microsecond precision loss in `PreparedStatement.setTimestamp(int,Timestamp, Calendar)` and address thread-safety issues with global timezone modification.
 - Fix metadata methods (`getColumns`, `getFunctions`, `getPrimaryKeys`, `getImportedKeys`) to return empty ResultSets instead of throwing exceptions when catalog parameter is NULL, for SEA.
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/databricks/client/jdbc/Driver.java b/src/main/java/com/databricks/client/jdbc/Driver.java
index 5cee61264..83cb1861f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/databricks/client/jdbc/Driver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/databricks/client/jdbc/Driver.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 import java.sql.SQLException;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Properties;
-import java.util.TimeZone;
 import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
@@ -39,8 +38,6 @@ public class Driver implements IDatabricksDriver {
   }
 
   public static void main(String[] args) {
-    TimeZone.setDefault(
-        TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC")); // Logging, timestamps are in UTC across the application
     System.out.printf("The driver {%s} has been initialized.%n", Driver.class);
   }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/log/Slf4jFormatter.java b/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/log/Slf4jFormatter.java
index 3434ba25b..b5f429c99 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/log/Slf4jFormatter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/databricks/jdbc/log/Slf4jFormatter.java
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 package com.databricks.jdbc.log;
 
-import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
-import java.util.Date;
-import java.util.TimeZone;
+import java.time.Instant;
+import java.time.ZoneId;
+import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.util.logging.Formatter;
 import java.util.logging.LogRecord;
 
@@ -12,19 +12,13 @@
  */
 public class Slf4jFormatter extends Formatter {
 
-  private static final String DATE_FORMAT = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";
-
-  private static final SimpleDateFormat dateFormat;
-
-  static {
-    dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(DATE_FORMAT);
-    dateFormat.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
-  }
+  private static final DateTimeFormatter DATE_FORMATTER =
+      DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss z").withZone(ZoneId.systemDefault());
 
   /** {@inheritDoc} */
   @Override
   public String format(LogRecord record) {
-    String timestamp = dateFormat.format(new Date(record.getMillis()));
+    String timestamp = DATE_FORMATTER.format(Instant.ofEpochMilli(record.getMillis()));
     String level = record.getLevel().getLocalizedName();
     String className = record.getSourceClassName();
     String methodName = record.getSourceMethodName();
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/databricks/jdbc/log/Slf4jFormatterTest.java b/src/test/java/com/databricks/jdbc/log/Slf4jFormatterTest.java
index 8c2d04548..f564d654e 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/databricks/jdbc/log/Slf4jFormatterTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/databricks/jdbc/log/Slf4jFormatterTest.java
@@ -23,24 +23,29 @@ public void setUp() {
 
   @Test
   public void testFormat() {
-    // Create a sample LogRecord
     LogRecord record = new LogRecord(Level.INFO, "Test message");
     record.setSourceClassName("TestClass");
     record.setSourceMethodName("testMethod");
 
-    // Set a specific timestamp for testing
     Instant instant = Instant.parse("2021-07-01T00:00:00Z");
     record.setInstant(instant);
 
-    // Format the log record
     String formattedLog = formatter.format(record);
 
-    // Expected format: "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss LEVEL ClassName#methodName - message"
+    // Use system default timezone (matches formatter)
+    TimeZone formatterZone = TimeZone.getDefault();
+
     SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
-    dateFormat.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
+    dateFormat.setTimeZone(formatterZone);
+
     String expectedTimestamp = dateFormat.format(Date.from(instant));
+
+    // Use SHORT display name instead of ID (Asia/Kolkata → IST)
+    String expectedZone = formatterZone.getDisplayName(false, TimeZone.SHORT);
+
     String expected =
-        String.format("%s INFO TestClass#testMethod - Test message%n", expectedTimestamp);
+        String.format(
+            "%s %s INFO TestClass#testMethod - Test message%n", expectedTimestamp, expectedZone);
 
     assertEquals(expected, formattedLog);
   }