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![USDA 2012 climate zone map]() USDA 2012 Plant Hardiness Zone Map
New Hardiness Zone Map May Already Be Outdated [New York Times]
...The 2012 version shows that planting zones have been shifting northward as winters become more mild. But a researcher contends that this long-awaited map is already outdated.
Nir Krakauer, an assistant professor of civil engineering at the Grove School of Engineering at City College of New York, has overhauled the U.S.D.A.’s hardiness map to better account for recent temperature changes. Unlike the U.S.D.A., which came up with its planting zones by using average annual minimum temperatures from 1975 to 2005, Dr. Krakauer looked at long-term temperature trends, including recent data that shows that winter temperatures are increasing more rapidly than summer temperatures. His results were published this week in Advances in Meteorology. According to his calculations, about one-third of the country has already shifted half-zones by comparison with the map, and over one-fifth has shifted a full zone. (Each zone has a minimum temperature range of 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and half zones have a 5-degree range.) Dr. Krakauer has also created an online calculator where anyone can plug in a longitude and latitude and see the adjusted temperature change. In New York City, for example, his calculator shows that the minimum winter temperature is 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer) than suggested by the hardiness map.
If you want to use Dr. Krakauer's online zone-adjustment calculator and need a longitude and latitude, you can enter your zip code at the National Weather Service, and find your coordinates on the right, below the 7-day strip of weather pictures.
![Fishs Eddy Obama tray]()
This fabulous Obama Birth Certificate Tray is only $19.95 at Fishs Eddy, perhaps the most entertaining housewares store ever. Fishs Eddy is located at 889 Broadway, at 19th Street, in Manhattan, but the internet is our friend.
h/t to the New York Times Editor's Blog piece on Kansas birthers.
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(more under the Orange Entwined Js)
