Shifting Hardiness Zones: Trends in Annual Minimum Temperature

Details

• Journal Title:
  Climate
• Personal Author:
  Krakauer, Nir
• NOAA Program & Office:
  OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CPO (Climate Program Office) ; CREST (Center for Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies and Tech Center at City College of CUNY) ; Education and outreach
• Description:
  Work published in 2012 revealed that annual minimum temperatures over the coterminous United States (USA) have increased faster than mean temperatures, causing a pronounced poleward shift in the positions of hardiness zones defined by the expected annual minimum temperature. Here, estimates of increases in annual minimum temperatures are updated and extended to other land areas where station temperature records are available. Annual minimum temperatures have increased faster than mean temperatures in seasonally cold regions globally, but have warmed at about the same rate as mean temperatures in tropical climates. The mean increase in annual minimum temperature across the available weather stations was 2.0 °C between 1970 and 2016 (or almost 0.5 °C per decade), as compared to an increase of 1.2 °C in mean temperature. Recent cold winters in regions such as Eastern North America did not clearly break with this trend and were within the range of variability seen in past decades. Overall, annual minimum temperatures appear to be increasing steadily, though with considerable inter-annual variability.
• Source:
  Climate 2018, 6(1), 15
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.3390/cli6010015
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  Grant no. NA15OAR4310080 ; Grant no. NA16SEC4810008
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Rights Information:
  CC BY
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/28203/noaa_28203_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 396.10 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) ; NOAA Cooperative Science Centers ; Education and Outreach
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:d26389ffbba6a174a555cf19d929f5faab873e3b950bf8bf335f679ded7dd40e