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Climate Change Pressures in the 21st Century: Shifts in Growing Degree Days, Plant Hardiness Zones and Heat Zones

The “Climate Change Pressures in the 21st Century” story map provides users with an overview of three metrics that influence plant growth: growing degree days, plant hardiness zones, and heat zones. Each section contains a brief description of the metric, as well as an interactive map of the metric comparing recent conditions (1980-2009) to projected conditions (2070-2099) under a high emissions scenario (RCP 8.5).
 

Access the tool here


More information on the methods used to develop these maps is available in the report:

Assessing potential climate change pressures across the conterminous United States: mapping plant hardiness zones, heat zones, growing degree days, and cumulative drought severity throughout this century  by Stephen Matthews, Louis Iverson, Matthew Peters, and Anantha Prasad. This dataset is also available for download on the  Research Data Archive

Inputs

Time, and interest to use the Story Map collection of data

Outputs

Better understanding of projected changes to Growing Degree Days, Plant Hardiness Zones and Heat Zones

Restrictions and Limitations

Story map

Release Notes

More information on the methods used to develop these maps is available in the report Assessing potential climate change pressures across the conterminous United States: mapping plant hardiness zones, heat zones, growing degree days, and cumulative drought severity throughout this century by Stephen Matthews, Louis Iverson, Matthew Peters, and Anantha Prasad. This dataset is also available for download on the Research Data Archive.

Datasets described in this story map are now available for use in ArcGIS:

Format:

Web

Audience:

Researcher, Extension, Producer, Land Manager, Other

Time Investment:

Low

Release/Version:

2021

Spatial Scale:

National

Time Scale:

Decade

Tool Developers:

USDA Forest Service, USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub, Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science