View Full Version : New USDA cold hardiness zone map
jwmahloch
12-10-2009, 05:59 PM
I heard that the USDA is supposed to be releasing an updated zone map soon that will utilize temperture data from 1990 to 2009. The more recent official map is the 1990 version of the map which in my opinion is not accurate. There is a 2003 map that the arbor day foundation released but it is not offical and doesnt break down each zone into a and b.
I read that the Bush Administration pulled the 2003 map and did not allow its release because they did not want it to show that the country was warming. The republicans are basically denying that global warming exists.
Does anyone know when the new USDA zone maps are expected to be released?
Seaner
12-10-2009, 07:51 PM
Does anyone know when the new USDA zone maps are expected to be released?
No, but thanks for the info! I'll Def be watching for info on that!
Richard
12-10-2009, 08:06 PM
... I read that the Bush Administration pulled the 2003 map and did not allow its release ... The republicans are basically denying that global warming exists. ...
As a spokesperson for Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin has definitely started singing that song. But then there are a few moderate Republican politicians who feel differently. In discussing the California environment our governor recently said "Palin has her head in the sand."
jwmahloch
12-10-2009, 08:18 PM
Palin is a freek and she should go away!!!!!! I am a liberal democrat and I live in Missouri (a republican state). This thread is not really supposed to be about politics but it makes sense why there hasnt been a new version of the USDA hardiness zone map in almost 20 years. The republicans are in denial about global warming.
Last I heard is that the new maps are supposed to come out sometime in 2010 and that the Prizim Group in Oregon is contracted with the USDA to develop the new maps. The new maps are supposed to be much more detailed and will include microclimates around cities.
turtile
12-10-2009, 08:53 PM
Last I heard is that the new maps are supposed to come out sometime in 2010 and that the Prizim Group in Oregon is contracted with the USDA to develop the new maps. The new maps are supposed to be much more detailed and will include microclimates around cities.
I think one huge problem with making new zone maps is the fact that some plants are rated as hardy if they survive in the zone (old map) they are growing. One example of this is Trachycarpus fortunei (Windmill palm). While it is labeled as hardy to Zone 7, it is still borderline in my area and needs a microclimate to survive during normal winters. With a revised new map, I'll be pushed into the Zone 7b/8a border. Stores will begin selling Zone 8 (well, they already are) plants here which won't make it long term.
Blake09
12-10-2009, 08:53 PM
Well I cant find the 2010 map yet but I found the 2006 map:
The Arbor Day Foundation (http://www.arborday.org/media/zones.cfm)
And the changes from 1990 to 2006:
The Arbor Day Foundation (http://www.arborday.org/media/map_change.cfm)
Patty in Wisc
12-10-2009, 09:24 PM
I had this in my bookmarks. I do remember a new map showed all zones with A or B - maybe '02?. I'm zone 5 but it changed to zone 5B (b being warmer than a). Then they changed it back to just using the zone #. In this link it shows newest zone map from '06. Read up
SPS Climate (http://www.sepalms.org/SPS_Climate.htm)
here's a good one:
The Arbor Day Foundation (http://www.arborday.org/media/zonechanges2006.cfm)
Patty in Wisc
12-10-2009, 09:25 PM
Well darn, you just beat me LOL
Abnshrek
12-10-2009, 10:05 PM
I don't believe being a republican, Democrat, or Liberal.. A Conservative, Moderate or Liberal.. Right-Wing or Left-Wing has anything to do with any Map or Anyone being in denial. If anything it has to do with how can Business's sell more plant products that are bound to fail when weather can't support them long-term.
LilRaverBoi
12-10-2009, 11:50 PM
LOL...what a surprise! Iowa is still zone 5...go figure :ha: They should just draw a line when it gets to 6a or so and beyond and write 'COLD AS HELL.'
Eh...who cares anyway...I'm still gonna be growing tropicals my whole life in Iowa. Cold never stopped me yet! I guess a change in climate for you zone 7+ people can make a pretty big difference on what you can overwinter and what protection it requires. However, for us people up farther north, these changes don't really affect the way we do things at all.
I had this in my bookmarks. I do remember a new map showed all zones with A or B - maybe '02?. I'm zone 5 but it changed to zone 5B (b being warmer than a). Then they changed it back to just using the zone #. In this link it shows newest zone map from '06. Read up
SPS Climate (http://www.sepalms.org/SPS_Climate.htm)
here's a good one:
The Arbor Day Foundation (http://www.arborday.org/media/zonechanges2006.cfm)
It is interesting to look at the map of zone changes--it looks like ripples in the sand, but I guess that is understandable that the warmer half of each zone would see the change first. It is also surprising that parts of the mountain west got colder.
Taylor
12-11-2009, 04:48 PM
I read that the Bush Administration pulled the 2003 map and did not allow its release because they did not want it to show that the country was warming. The republicans are basically denying that global warming exists.
I'd like to take this opportunity to clarify your vastly incorrect statement quoted above since I try to research what I'm talking about before I trash-talk others.
I found the ONE website that mentions the Bush Administration as playing a role in the rejection of the 2003 map. In the very same sentence of the very same paragraph of the article, it says:
Some observers suggested that the Bush administration pulled the map because it showed the nation warming, but Kaplan calls that idea an urban myth. “There was no memo from the White House,” she says. “The draft was rejected because it wasn’t web-friendly and wasn’t layered in a standard GIS format. The data were never reviewed – formatting and technology issues got it bounced.”
Both the 1990 map and the aborted 2003 version are unreliable because they use too little data to show lasting trends, Avent contends. “The first time they got a cold data set and the second time they got a warm data set,” he says.
The article is found here: Climate change comes to your backyard ? The Daily Climate (http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/usda/climate-change-comes-to-your-backyard)
Now, from further research, please read this excerpt from Wikipedia about the rejected map and other updates:
Updates
Differences between 1990 USDA hardiness zones and 2006 arborday.org hardiness zones reflect warmer climate
In 2003, a preliminary draft of a new USDA map was produced by the American Horticultural Society (AHS), compiled by Meteorological Evaluation Services Co., Inc. of Amityville, NY, using temperature data collected from July 1986 to March 2002. This was a period of warmer winters than the 1974-1986 period, especially in the eastern U.S.A., and thus the 2003 map placed many areas approximately a half-zone higher (warmer) than the 1990 map had. Many have noted that the map seemed to have drifted closer to the original 1960 map in its overall zone-delineations. While the 2003 AHS draft map purported to show finer detail, for example reflecting urban heat islands by showing the downtown areas of several cities (e.g., Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC) as a full zone warmer than outlying areas, the map also did away with the detailed a/b half-zones introduced in the 1990 map, an omission widely criticized by horticulturists and gardeners due to the coarseness of the resulting map. The USDA rejected the AHS 2003 draft map; the agency has stated it is creating its own internal map in an interactive computer format. As of May 2009 the AHS and the National Arboretum websites still present the 1990 map as current.
In addition, the National Arbor Day Foundation in the United States recently completed an extensive updating of U.S. Hardiness Zones in 2006, utilizing essentially the same data used by the AHS, the then-most-recent 15 years’ data available from more than 5,000 National Climatic Data Center cooperative stations across the United States. Once the Foundation analyzed the new data, hardiness zones were revised, generally reflecting warmer recent temperatures in many parts of the country. The Arbor Day Foundation used the updated versions of the same sources of data as had been utilized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the creation of its hardiness zone maps. The 2006 map appears to validate the data used in the 2003 draft completed by the AHS. Like the AHS map, it also did away with the more detailed a/b half-zone delineations.[2]
The Wikipedia page for the above quote can be found here: Hardiness zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardiness_zone#Updates)
Patty in Wisc
12-11-2009, 09:02 PM
Yeah SBL, the 2nd link I posted shows places that are warmer, same, & some places that are colder.
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