Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
Planting zones have moved north - like 600-800 miles.
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Miami, Florida is located less than 600 miles south of my location in upstate South Carolina. The fall/winter/spring temperatures around here are nowhere near the zone 10 conditions experienced in Miami, so I don't think conditions are ready for me to start planting coconuts here yet. An 800 mile shift north would give me Cuban planting zones, an even more unlikely scenario although, if I were living here 8 million years ago, that is the climate that I would have. 8 million years ago the local climate here was tropical, the elevation above sea would have been 200 feet and the seashore was only 80 miles away. The local red clay is an indicator of a past tropical climate, as is the fossil record. Spring tree bud break is about 1 week earlier than it was in the 1970's, but winter low temperatures have changed little, if at all. The northern range limits for Spanish moss and alligators are 90 miles to the south of here. If winter temps were getting milder, I would expect to start seeing Spanish moss growing in my trees and alligators moving into my lake. So far I have seen neither.