Evaluating multiple signals of climate change across the conterminous United States during three 30-year periods (2010�2039, 2040�2069, 2070�2099) during this century to a baseline period (1980�2009) emphasizes potential changes for growing degree days (GDD), plant hardiness zones (PHZ), and heat zones. These indices were derived using the CCSM4 and GFDL CM3 models under the representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5, respectively, and included in Matthews et al. (2018). Daily temperature was downscaled by Maurer et al.�(https://doi.org/10.1029/2007EO470006 at a 1/8 degree grid scale and used to obtain growing degree days, plant hardiness zones, and heat zones.�Each of these indices provides unique information about plant health related to changes in climatic conditions that influence establishment, growth, and survival. These data and the calculated changes are provided as 14 individual IMG files for each index to assist with management planning and decision making into the future. For each of the four indices the following are included: two baseline files (1980�2009), three files representing 30-year periods for the scenario CCSM4 under RCP 4.5 along with three files of changes, and three files representing 30-year periods for the scenario GFDL CM3 under RCP 8.5 along with three files of changes. Growing degree days address an important component to general patterns of plant growth by accumulating the degree days across the growing season. This metric provides a level of detail related to defining the growing season potential. Here, we evaluate the accumulation of growing degree days at or above 5 �C (41 �F), assuming that limited growth occurs below 5 �C.�Specifically, we calculate growing degree days by first calculating the average daily temperature, based on the maximum and minimum projected daily temperature. We then subtract 5 �C from each mean value and then accumulate the positive difference values for all days within each year. The mean GDD values for the conterminous United States during the baseline period ranged from less than 100 to over 7,000 degree days, increasing from north to south with highest values in the Florida panhandle, southern Texas, southwestern Arizona, and southeastern California. GDD projections throughout the century suggest a ubiquitous increase across the United States with slightly less change in the Northeast and much greater increases throughout the southern United States under the high scenario. Original data and associated metadata can be downloaded from this website:�https://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/Product/RDS-2019-0001This record was taken from the USDA Enterprise Data Inventory that feeds into the https://data.gov catalog. Data for this record includes the following resources: ISO-19139 metadata ArcGIS Hub Dataset ArcGIS GeoService For complete information, please visit https://data.gov.

[Updated 28/01/25 to fix an issue in the ‘Lower’ values, which were not fully representing the range of uncertainty. ‘Median’ and ‘Higher’ values remain unchanged. The size of the change varies by grid cell and fixed period/global warming levels but the average percentage change between the 'lower' values before and after this update is -1%.]What does the data show? A Heating Degree Day (HDD) is a day in which the average temperature is below 15.5°C. It is the number of degrees above this threshold that counts as a Heating Degree Day. For example if the average temperature for a specific day is 15°C, this would contribute 0.5 Heating Degree Days to the annual sum, alternatively an average temperature of 10.5°C would contribute 5 Heating Degree Days. Given the data shows the annual sum of Heating Degree Days, this value can be above 365 in some parts of the UK.Annual Heating Degree Days is calculated for two baseline (historical) periods 1981-2000 (corresponding to 0.51°C warming) and 2001-2020 (corresponding to 0.87°C warming) and for global warming levels of 1.5°C, 2.0°C, 2.5°C, 3.0°C, 4.0°C above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) period. This enables users to compare the future number of HDD to previous values.What are the possible societal impacts?Heating Degree Days indicate the energy demand for heating due to cold days. A higher number of HDD means an increase in power consumption for heating, therefore this index is useful for predicting future changes in energy demand for heating.What is a global warming level?Annual Heating Degree Days are calculated from the UKCP18 regional climate projections using the high emissions scenario (RCP 8.5) where greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow. Instead of considering future climate change during specific time periods (e.g. decades) for this scenario, the dataset is calculated at various levels of global warming relative to the pre-industrial (1850-1900) period. The world has already warmed by around 1.1°C (between 1850–1900 and 2011–2020), whilst this dataset allows for the exploration of greater levels of warming. The global warming levels available in this dataset are 1.5°C, 2°C, 2.5°C, 3°C and 4°C. The data at each warming level was calculated using a 21 year period. These 21 year periods are calculated by taking 10 years either side of the first year at which the global warming level is reached. This time will be different for different model ensemble members. To calculate the value for the Annual Heating Degree Days, an average is taken across the 21 year period. Therefore, the Annual Heating Degree Days show the number of heating degree days that could occur each year, for each given level of warming. We cannot provide a precise likelihood for particular emission scenarios being followed in the real world future. However, we do note that RCP8.5 corresponds to emissions considerably above those expected with current international policy agreements. The results are also expressed for several global warming levels because we do not yet know which level will be reached in the real climate as it will depend on future greenhouse emission choices and the sensitivity of the climate system, which is uncertain. Estimates based on the assumption of current international agreements on greenhouse gas emissions suggest a median warming level in the region of 2.4-2.8°C, but it could either be higher or lower than this level.What are the naming conventions and how do I explore the data?This data contains a field for each warming level and two baselines. They are named ‘HDD’ (Heating Degree Days), the warming level or baseline, and 'upper' 'median' or 'lower' as per the description below. E.g. 'HDD 2.5 median' is the median value for the 2.5°C projection. Decimal points are included in field aliases but not field names e.g. 'HDD 2.5 median' is 'HDD_25_median'. To understand how to explore the data, see this page: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/457e7a2bc73e40b089fac0e47c63a578Please note, if viewing in ArcGIS Map Viewer, the map will default to ‘HDD 2.0°C median’ values.What do the ‘median’, ‘upper’, and ‘lower’ values mean?Climate models are numerical representations of the climate system. To capture uncertainty in projections for the future, an ensemble, or group, of climate models are run. Each ensemble member has slightly different starting conditions or model set-ups. Considering all of the model outcomes gives users a range of plausible conditions which could occur in the future. For this dataset, the model projections consist of 12 separate ensemble members. To select which ensemble members to use, Annual Heating Degree Days were calculated for each ensemble member and they were then ranked in order from lowest to highest for each location. The ‘lower’ fields are the second lowest ranked ensemble member. The ‘upper’ fields are the second highest ranked ensemble member. The ‘median’ field is the central value of the ensemble.This gives a median value, and a spread of the ensemble members indicating the range of possible outcomes in the projections. This spread of outputs can be used to infer the uncertainty in the projections. The larger the difference between the lower and upper fields, the greater the uncertainty.‘Lower’, ‘median’ and ‘upper’ are also given for the baseline periods as these values also come from the model that was used to produce the projections. This allows a fair comparison between the model projections and recent past. Useful linksThis dataset was calculated following the methodology in the ‘Future Changes to high impact weather in the UK’ report and uses the same temperature thresholds as the 'State of the UK Climate' report.Further information on the UK Climate Projections (UKCP).Further information on understanding climate data within the Met Office Climate Data Portal.

Degree days are based on the assumption that when the outside temperature is 65°F, we don't need heating or cooling to be comfortable. Cooling Degree Days (CDD) are the difference between the daily temperature mean (high temperature plus low temperature divided by two) and 65°F. In essence, it tells us how many degrees we need to cool our houses/buildings by each day to achieve that "comfortable" level. More information on CCDs can be found here. This layer shows the total number of CDDs needed per year over the average period of 2036-2065. This information is sourced from the high resolution LOCA climate models used in the 4th National Climate Assessment. Specifically, we are showing CDDs under a high CO2 emissions scenario (RCP 8.5), which is, at this point, the most realistic scenario. Time Extent: Annual average from 2036-2065Units: degree daysCell Size: 1/16th degree (~6 km)Source Type: StretchedPixel Type: 32 Bit floating pointData Projection: GCS WGS84Extent: United States plus some of Canada and MexicoSource: CMIP5 Localized Constructed Analogs (LOCA)What can this layer be used for?In addition to mapping, this ArcGIS Imagery for ArcGIS Online tile imagery layer supports spatial analysis, and contains 32-bit floating point values for CDD. Original data can be downloaded from the LOCA-Viewer.

The US Global Change Research Program sponsors the semi-annual National Climate Assessment, which is the authoritative analysis of climate change and its potential impacts in the United States. The 4th National Climate Assessment (NCA4), issued in 2018, used high resolution, downscaled LOCA climate data for many of its national and regional analyses. The LOCA downscaling was applied to multi-model mean weighted averages, using the following 32 CMIP5 model ensemble:ACCESS1-0, ACCESS1-3, bcc-csm1-1, bcc-csm1-1-m, CanESM2, CCSM4, CESM1-BGC, CESM1-CAM5, CMCC-CM, CMCC-CMS, CNRM-CM5, CSIRO-Mk3-6-0, EC EARTH, FGOALS-g2, GFDL-CM3, GFDL-ESM2G, GFDL-ESM2M, GISS-E2-H-p1, GISS-E2-R-p1, HadGEM2-AO, HadGEM2-CC, HadGEM2-ES, inmcm4, IPSL-CM5A-LR, IPSL-CM5A-MR, MIROC5, MIROC-ESM-CHEM, MIROC-ESM, MPI-ESM-LR, MPI-ESM-MR, MRI-CGCM3, NorESM1-M.All of the LOCA variables used in NCA4 are presented here. Many are thresholded to provide 47 actionable statistics, like days with precipitation greater than 3", length of the growing season, or days above 90 degrees F. Time RangesStatistics for each variables were calculated over a 30-year period. Four different time ranges are provided:Historical: 1976-2005Early-Century: 2016-2045Mid-Century: 2036-2065Late-Century: 2070-2099Climate ScenariosClimate models use estimates of greenhouse gas concentrations to predict overall change. These difference scenarios are called the Relative Concentration Pathways. Two different RCPs are presented here: RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. The number indicates the amount of radiative forcing(watts per meter square) associated with the greenhouse gas concentration scenario in the year 2100 (higher forcing = greater warming). It is unclear which scenario will be the most likely, but RCP 4.5 aligns with the international targets of the COP-26 agreement, while RCP 8.5 is aligns with a more "business as usual" approach. Detailed documentation and the original data from USGCRP, processed by NOAA's National Climate Assessment Technical Support Unit at the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, can be accessed from the NCA Atlas. Variable DefinitionsCooling Degree Days: Cooling degree days (annual cumulative number of degrees by which the daily average temperature is greater than 65°F) [degree days (degF)]Consecutive Dry Days: Annual maximum number of consecutive dry days (days with total precipitation less than 0.01 inches)Consecutive Dry Days Jan Jul Aug: Summer maximum number of consecutive dry days (days with total precipitation less than 0.01 inches in June, July, and August)Consecutive Wet Days: Annual maximum number of consecutive wet days (days with total precipitation greater than or equal to 0.01 inches)First Freeze Day: Date of the first fall freeze (annual first occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 32degF in the fall)Growing Degree Days: Growing degree days, base 50 (annual cumulative number of degrees by which the daily average temperature is greater than 50°F) [degree days (degF)]Growing Degree Days Modified: Modified growing degree days, base 50 (annual cumulative number of degrees by which the daily average temperature is greater than 50°F; before calculating the daily average temperatures, daily maximum temperatures above 86°F and daily minimum temperatures below 50°F are set to those values) [degree days (degF)]growing-season: Length of the growing (frost-free) season (the number of days between the last occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 32degF in the spring and the first occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 32degF in the fall)Growing Season 28F: Length of the growing season, 28°F threshold (the number of days between the last occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 28°F in the spring and the first occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 28°F in the fall)Growing Season 41F: Length of the growing season, 41°F threshold (the number of days between the last occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 41°F in the spring and the first occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 41°F in the fall)Heating Degree Days: Heating degree days (annual cumulative number of degrees by which the daily average temperature is less than 65°F) [degree days (degF)]Last Freeze Day: Date of the last spring freeze (annual last occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 32degF in the spring)Precip Above 99th pctl: Annual total precipitation for all days exceeding the 99th percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005 [inches]Precip Annual Total: Annual total precipitation [inches]Precip Days Above 99th pctl: Annual number of days with precipitation exceeding the 99th percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005 [inches]Precip 1in: Annual number of days with total precipitation greater than 1 inchPrecip 2in: Annual number of days with total precipitation greater than 2 inchesPrecip 3in: Annual number of days with total precipitation greater than 3 inchesPrecip 4in: Annual number of days with total precipitation greater than 4 inchesPrecip Max 1 Day: Annual highest precipitation total for a single day [inches]Precip Max 5 Day: Annual highest precipitation total over a 5-day period [inches]Daily Avg Temperature: Daily average temperature [degF]Daily Max Temperature: Daily maximum temperature [degF]Temp Max Days Above 99th pctl: Annual number of days with maximum temperature greater than the 99th percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005Temp Max Days Below 1st pctl: Annual number of days with maximum temperature lower than the 1st percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005Days Above 100F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 100degFDays Above 105F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 105degFDays Above 110F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 110degFDays Above 115F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 115degFTemp Max 1 Day: Annual single highest maximum temperature [degF]Days Above 32F: Annual number of icing days (days with a maximum temperature less than 32degF)Temp Max 5 Day: Annual highest maximum temperature averaged over a 5-day period [degF]Days Above 86F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 86degFDays Above 90F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 90degFDays Above 95F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 95degFTemp Min: Daily minimum temperature [degF]Temp Min Days Above 75F: Annual number of days with a minimum temperature greater than 75degFTemp Min Days Above 80F: Annual number of days with a minimum temperature greater than 80degFTemp Min Days Above 85F: Annual number of days with a minimum temperature greater than 85degFTemp Min Days Above 90F: Annual number of days with a minimum temperature greater than 90degFTemp Min Days Above 99th pctl: Annual number of days with minimum temperature greater than the 99th percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005Temp Min Days Below 1st pctl: Annual number of days with minimum temperature lower than the 1st percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005Temp Min Days Below 28F: Annual number of days with a minimum temperature less than 28degFTemp Min Max 5 Day: Annual highest minimum temperature averaged over a 5-day period [degF]Temp Min 1 Day: Annual single lowest minimum temperature [degF]Temp Min 32F: Annual number of frost days (days with a minimum temperature less than 32degF)Temp Min 5 Day: Annual lowest minimum temperature averaged over a 5-day period [degF]For For freeze-related variables:The first fall freeze is defined as the date of the first occurrence of 32degF or lower in the nine months starting midnight August 1. Grid points with more than 10 of the 30 years not experiencing an occurrence of 32degF or lower are excluded from the analysis.No freeze occurrence, value = 999The last spring freeze is defined as the date of the last occurrence of 32degF or lower in the nine months prior to midnight August 1. Grid points with more than 10 of the 30 years not experiencing an occurrence of 32degF or lower are excluded from the analysis.No freeze occurrence, value = 999The growing season is defined as the number of days between the last occurrence of 28degF/32degF/41degF or lower in the nine months prior to midnight August 1 and the first occurrence of 28degF/32degF/41degF or lower in the nine months starting August 1. Grid points with more than 10 of the 30 years not experiencing an occurrence of 28degF/32degF/41degF or lower are excluded from the analysis.No freeze occurrence, value = 999

Climate plays a major role in determining the distribution of plants and animals. Bioclimatology, the study of climate as it affects and is affected by living organisms, is key to understanding the patterns of forests and deserts on the landscape, where productive agricultural lands may be found, and how changes in the climate will affect rare species. This layer is part of the Ecophysiographic Project and is one of the four input layers used to create the World Ecological Land Units Map.Dataset Summary This layer provides access to a 250m cell-sized raster with a bioclimatic stratification. The source dataset was a 30-arcsecond resolution raster (equivalent to 0.86 km2 at the equator or about a 920m pixel size). The layer has the following attributes: Temperature Description - Seven classes based on the number of growing degree days (the monthly mean temperature multiplied by number of days in the month summed for all months). The 1950 to 2000 monthly average temperature was used to calculate growing degree days. Values in this field and associated number of growing degree days are:Temperature DescriptionGrowing Degree DaysVery Hot9,000 – 13,500Hot7,000 – 9,000Warm4,500 – 7,000Cool2,500 – 4,500Cold1,000 – 2,500Very Cold300 – 1,000Arctic0 - 300Aridity Description - Six classes based on an index of aridity calculated by dividing precipitation by evapotranspiration. Precipitation and evapotranspiration are average values from 1950 to 2000.Aridity DescriptionAridity IndexVery Wet1.5 – 70Wet1.0 – 1.5Moist0.6 – 1.0Semi-dry0.3 – 0.6Dry0.1 – 0.3Very Dry0.01 – 0.1Bioclimate Class - a 2-part description that combines the value of the Temperature Description field and the Aridity Description field. The alias for this field is ELU Bioclimate Reclass. This layer was created by modifying the dataset documented in the publication: Metzger and others. 2012. A high-resolution bioclimate map of the world: a unifying framework for global biodiversity research and monitoring. What can you do with this layer? This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis. It can be used in ArcGIS Online in web maps and applications and can be used in ArcGIS Desktop.This layer has query, identify, and export image services available. This layer is restricted to a maximum area of 16,000 x 16,000 pixels - an area 4,000 kilometers on a side or an area approximately the size of Europe. A service is available providing access to the data table associated with this layer. The data table services can be used by developers to quickly and efficiently query the data and to create custom applications. For more information see the World Ecophysiographic Tables.This layer is part of a larger collection of landscape layers that you can use to perform a wide variety of mapping and analysis tasks.The Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore the landscape layers and many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics.Geonet is a good resource for learning more about landscape layers and the Living Atlas of the World. To get started see the Living Atlas Discussion Group.The Esri Insider Blog provides an introduction to the Ecophysiographic Mapping project.

The US Global Change Research Program sponsors the semi-annual National Climate Assessment, which is the authoritative analysis of climate change and its potential impacts in the United States. The 4th National Climate Assessment (NCA4), issued in 2018, used high resolution, downscaled LOCA climate data for many of its national and regional analyses. The LOCA downscaling was applied to multi-model mean weighted averages, using the following 32 CMIP5 model ensemble:ACCESS1-0, ACCESS1-3, bcc-csm1-1, bcc-csm1-1-m, CanESM2, CCSM4, CESM1-BGC, CESM1-CAM5, CMCC-CM, CMCC-CMS, CNRM-CM5, CSIRO-Mk3-6-0, EC EARTH, FGOALS-g2, GFDL-CM3, GFDL-ESM2G, GFDL-ESM2M, GISS-E2-H-p1, GISS-E2-R-p1, HadGEM2-AO, HadGEM2-CC, HadGEM2-ES, inmcm4, IPSL-CM5A-LR, IPSL-CM5A-MR, MIROC5, MIROC-ESM-CHEM, MIROC-ESM, MPI-ESM-LR, MPI-ESM-MR, MRI-CGCM3, NorESM1-M.All of the LOCA variables used in NCA4 are presented here. Many are thresholded to provide 47 actionable statistics, like days with precipitation greater than 3", length of the growing season, or days above 90 degrees F. Time RangesStatistics for each variables were calculated over a 30-year period. Four different time ranges are provided:Historical: 1976-2005Early-Century: 2016-2045Mid-Century: 2036-2065Late-Century: 2070-2099Climate ScenariosClimate models use estimates of greenhouse gas concentrations to predict overall change. These difference scenarios are called the Relative Concentration Pathways. Two different RCPs are presented here: RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. The number indicates the amount of radiative forcing(watts per meter square) associated with the greenhouse gas concentration scenario in the year 2100 (higher forcing = greater warming). It is unclear which scenario will be the most likely, but RCP 4.5 aligns with the international targets of the COP-26 agreement, while RCP 8.5 is aligns with a more "business as usual" approach. Detailed documentation and the original data from USGCRP, processed by NOAA's National Climate Assessment Technical Support Unit at the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, can be accessed from the NCA Atlas. Variable DefinitionsCooling Degree Days: Cooling degree days (annual cumulative number of degrees by which the daily average temperature is greater than 65°F) [degree days (degF)]Consecutive Dry Days: Annual maximum number of consecutive dry days (days with total precipitation less than 0.01 inches)Consecutive Dry Days Jan Jul Aug: Summer maximum number of consecutive dry days (days with total precipitation less than 0.01 inches in June, July, and August)Consecutive Wet Days: Annual maximum number of consecutive wet days (days with total precipitation greater than or equal to 0.01 inches)First Freeze Day: Date of the first fall freeze (annual first occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 32degF in the fall)Growing Degree Days: Growing degree days, base 50 (annual cumulative number of degrees by which the daily average temperature is greater than 50°F) [degree days (degF)]Growing Degree Days Modified: Modified growing degree days, base 50 (annual cumulative number of degrees by which the daily average temperature is greater than 50°F; before calculating the daily average temperatures, daily maximum temperatures above 86°F and daily minimum temperatures below 50°F are set to those values) [degree days (degF)]growing-season: Length of the growing (frost-free) season (the number of days between the last occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 32degF in the spring and the first occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 32degF in the fall)Growing Season 28F: Length of the growing season, 28°F threshold (the number of days between the last occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 28°F in the spring and the first occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 28°F in the fall)Growing Season 41F: Length of the growing season, 41°F threshold (the number of days between the last occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 41°F in the spring and the first occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 41°F in the fall)Heating Degree Days: Heating degree days (annual cumulative number of degrees by which the daily average temperature is less than 65°F) [degree days (degF)]Last Freeze Day: Date of the last spring freeze (annual last occurrence of a minimum temperature at or below 32degF in the spring)Precip Above 99th pctl: Annual total precipitation for all days exceeding the 99th percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005 [inches]Precip Annual Total: Annual total precipitation [inches]Precip Days Above 99th pctl: Annual number of days with precipitation exceeding the 99th percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005 [inches]Precip 1in: Annual number of days with total precipitation greater than 1 inchPrecip 2in: Annual number of days with total precipitation greater than 2 inchesPrecip 3in: Annual number of days with total precipitation greater than 3 inchesPrecip 4in: Annual number of days with total precipitation greater than 4 inchesPrecip Max 1 Day: Annual highest precipitation total for a single day [inches]Precip Max 5 Day: Annual highest precipitation total over a 5-day period [inches]Daily Avg Temperature: Daily average temperature [degF]Daily Max Temperature: Daily maximum temperature [degF]Temp Max Days Above 99th pctl: Annual number of days with maximum temperature greater than the 99th percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005Temp Max Days Below 1st pctl: Annual number of days with maximum temperature lower than the 1st percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005Days Above 100F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 100degFDays Above 105F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 105degFDays Above 110F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 110degFDays Above 115F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 115degFTemp Max 1 Day: Annual single highest maximum temperature [degF]Days Above 32F: Annual number of icing days (days with a maximum temperature less than 32degF)Temp Max 5 Day: Annual highest maximum temperature averaged over a 5-day period [degF]Days Above 86F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 86degFDays Above 90F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 90degFDays Above 95F: Annual number of days with a maximum temperature greater than 95degFTemp Min: Daily minimum temperature [degF]Temp Min Days Above 75F: Annual number of days with a minimum temperature greater than 75degFTemp Min Days Above 80F: Annual number of days with a minimum temperature greater than 80degFTemp Min Days Above 85F: Annual number of days with a minimum temperature greater than 85degFTemp Min Days Above 90F: Annual number of days with a minimum temperature greater than 90degFTemp Min Days Above 99th pctl: Annual number of days with minimum temperature greater than the 99th percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005Temp Min Days Below 1st pctl: Annual number of days with minimum temperature lower than the 1st percentile, calculated with reference to 1976-2005Temp Min Days Below 28F: Annual number of days with a minimum temperature less than 28degFTemp Min Max 5 Day: Annual highest minimum temperature averaged over a 5-day period [degF]Temp Min 1 Day: Annual single lowest minimum temperature [degF]Temp Min 32F: Annual number of frost days (days with a minimum temperature less than 32degF)Temp Min 5 Day: Annual lowest minimum temperature averaged over a 5-day period [degF]For For freeze-related variables:The first fall freeze is defined as the date of the first occurrence of 32degF or lower in the nine months starting midnight August 1. Grid points with more than 10 of the 30 years not experiencing an occurrence of 32degF or lower are excluded from the analysis.No freeze occurrence, value = 999The last spring freeze is defined as the date of the last occurrence of 32degF or lower in the nine months prior to midnight August 1. Grid points with more than 10 of the 30 years not experiencing an occurrence of 32degF or lower are excluded from the analysis.No freeze occurrence, value = 999The growing season is defined as the number of days between the last occurrence of 28degF/32degF/41degF or lower in the nine months prior to midnight August 1 and the first occurrence of 28degF/32degF/41degF or lower in the nine months starting August 1. Grid points with more than 10 of the 30 years not experiencing an occurrence of 28degF/32degF/41degF or lower are excluded from the analysis.No freeze occurrence, value = 999

Contained within the 5th Edition (1978 to 1995) of the National Atlas of Canada is a map that shows the annual sum of heating degree days (an indicator of building heating needs). Data for period 1941 to 1970. Companion sheet to Frost-Free Period, Growing Degree-Days, Last Frost in Spring and First Frost in Autumn.

The HOT2000 software contains monthly and annual climate data for 403 locations in Canada. Boundary lines for HOT2000 climate zones were defined through spatial interpolation of the annual Celsius heating degree-days for each weather station. In a number of instances, the positions of boundary lines may not be representative of the local climate conditions due to lack of appropriate climate data. Each HOT2000 climate zone contains one weather station to be used for all locations within the zone. Climate data represent 20-year averaged data from 1998 to 2017 for locations south of 58° latitude and 13-year averaged data from 2005 to 2017 for locations north of 58° latitude. Note that Whistler, BC uses 13 years of data. The following information is available in the climate map:

A pre-configured, multi-layer web map for viewing all Growing Degree Days scenarios. (To launch the map from the Climate Change Open Data site, select "View Metadata" under the "About" heading, then look for the button labeled "Open in Map Viewer" to the upper right.) The map layers depict historical and projected changes in growing degree days (GDD), a measure of heat accumulation in plants which indicates cumulative seasonal warming above a base temperature of 50°F. Geographic units: HUC10. Map layer data include historical (1970-1999) values plus two projections each for two future time periods, 2050s (2040-2069) and 2080s (2070-2099), based on lower and higher greenhouse gas emission scenarios, RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. Data classes and symbology by Robert Norheim, Climate Impacts Group, based on the CMIP5 projections used in the IPCC 2013 report. Data source: Mote et al. 2015.

Evaluating multiple signals of climate change across the conterminous United States during three 30-year periods (2010�2039, 2040�2069, 2070�2099) during this century to a baseline period (1980�2009) emphasizes potential changes for growing degree days (GDD), plant hardiness zones (PHZ), and heat zones. These indices were derived using the CCSM4 and GFDL CM3 models under the representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5, respectively, and included in Matthews et al. (2018). Daily temperature was downscaled by Maurer et al. (https://doi.org/10.1029/2007EO470006) at a 1/8 degree grid scale and used to obtain growing degree days, plant hardiness zones, and heat zones. Each of these indices provides unique information about plant health related to changes in climatic conditions that influence establishment, growth, and survival. These data and the calculated changes are provided as 14 individual IMG files for each index to assist with management planning and decision making into the future. For each of the four indices the following are included: two baseline files (1980�2009), three files representing 30-year periods for the scenario CCSM4 under RCP 4.5 along with three files of changes, and three files representing 30-year periods for the scenario GFDL CM3 under RCP 8.5 along with three files of changes.�Plant hardiness zones provide a general indication of the extent of overwinter stress experienced by plants. PHZ are based on the average annual extreme minimum temperatures and have been used by horticulturists to evaluate the cold hardiness of plants. Specifically, the value used here is the absolute minimum temperature achieved for each year and reported as the 30-year mean. Because they reflect cold tolerance for many plant species, including woody ones, hardiness zones are most likely to reflect plant range limits. The zonal variations caused by warming temperatures in the future will therefore be useful to approximately delineate niche constraints of many plant species and hence their future range potential. Plant hardiness zones and subzones were delineated according to the USDA definitions, which break the geography into zones by 10 �F (5.56 �C) increments from zone 1 (-55 to -45.6 �C) to zone 13 (15.7 to 22 �C) of annual extreme minimum temperature. To define the coldest day per year, daily minimum temperatures were identified within the period July 1 to June 30, with the nominal year assigned to the first 6 months of the 12-month period.�Original data and associated metadata can be downloaded from this website:�https://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/Product/RDS-2019-0001

This map layer depicts the climate zone designations used by the U.S. Department of Energy Building America Program by county boundaries (generalized version). It is intended as an aid in helping builders to identify the appropriate climate designation for the counties in which they are building. The guide can be used in conjunction with guidance in the Building America Solution Center and the Best Practices builders’ guides produced by the DOE Building America Program to help builders determine which climate-specific guidance they should use. This data for this layer is taken from Building America Best Practices Series, Volume 7.3 - Guide to Determining Climate Regions by County. The eight U.S. Building America climate regions described here are based on the climate designations used by the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). The IECC climate zone map was developed by DOE researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with input from Building America team members, in particular Joseph Lstiburek of Building Science Corporation.a,b The IECC map was developed to provide a simplified, consistent approach to defining climate for implementation of various codes; it was based on widely accepted classifications of world climates that have been applied in a variety of different disciplines. The PNNL-developed map was adopted by the IECC and was first included in the IECC in the 2004 Supplement to the IECC. It first appeared in ASHRAE 90.1 in the 2004 edition. The IECC map divided the United States into eight temperatureoriented climate zones. These zones are further divided into three moisture regimes designated A, B, and C. Thus the IECC map allows for up to 24 potential climate designations. In 2003, with direction from the Building America teams, researchers at DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory simplified the IECC map for purposes of the Building America Program, into eight climate zones. For reporting purposes, these are further combined into five climate categories: Hot-humid,hot-dry/mixed drymixed-humidmarinecold/very coldsubarctic.The Building America and IECC climate maps are shown in Figures 1 and 2. The climate regions are described below. Climate zone boundaries follow county boundary lines. A listing of counties comprising each climate zone is provided below, beginning on page 5. The climate region definitions are based on heating degree days, average temperatures, and precipitation as follows:Hot-HumidA hot-humid climate is defined as a region that receives more than 20 inches (50 cm) of annual precipitation and where one or both of the following occur:• A 67°F (19.5°C) or higher wet bulb temperature for 3,000 or more hours during the warmest six consecutive months of the year; or• A 73°F (23°C) or higher wet bulb temperature for 1,500 or more hours during the warmest six consecutive months of the year.The Building America hot-humid climate zone includes the portions of IECC zones 1, 2, and 3 that are in the moist category (A) below the “warm-humid” line shown on the IECC map. Mixed-HumidA mixed-humid climate is defined as a region that receives more than 20 inches (50 cm) of annual precipitation, has approximately 5,400 heating degree days (65°F basis) or fewer, and where the average monthly outdoor temperature drops below 45°F (7°C) during the winter months.The Building America mixed-humid climate zone includes the portions of IECC zones 4 and 3 in category A above the “warmhumid” line. Hot-DryA hot-dry climate is defined as a region that receives less than 20 inches (50 cm) of annual precipitation and where the monthly average outdoor temperature remains above 45°F (7°C) throughout the year.The Building America hot-dry climate zone corresponds to the portions of IECC zones 2 and 3 in the dry category.Mixed-Dry A mixed-dry climate is defined as a region that receives less than 20 inches (50 cm) of annual precipitation, has approximately 5,400 heating degree days (65°F basis) or less, and where the average monthly outdoor temperature drops below 45°F (7°C) during the winter months.The Building America mixed-dry climate zone corresponds to IECC climate zone 4 B (dry).Cold A cold climate is defined as a region with between 5,400 and 9,000 heating degree days (65°F basis).The Building America cold climate corresponds to the IECC climate zones 5 and 6.Very-Cold A very cold climate is defined as a region with between 9,000 and 12,600 heating degree days (65°F basis).The Building America very cold climate corresponds to IECC climate zone 7.SubarcticA subarctic climate is defined as a region with 12,600 heating degree days (65° basis) or more. The only subarctic regions in the United States are in found Alaska, which is not shown in Figure 1.The Building America subarctic climate zone corresponds to IECC climate zone 8.Marine A marine climate is defined as a region that meets all of the following criteria: • A coldest month mean temperature between 27°F (-3°C) and 65°F (18°C)• A warmest month mean of less than 72°F (22°C)• At least 4 months with mean temperatures higher than 50°F (10°C)• A dry season in summer. The month with the heaviest precipitation in the cold season has at least three times as much precipitation as the month with the least precipitation in the rest of the year. The cold season is October through March in the Northern Hemisphere and April through September in the Southern Hemisphere.The Building America marine climate corresponds to those portions of IECC climate zones 3 and 4 located in the “C” moisture category. Building America and IECC Climate ZonesThe table below shows the relationship between the Building America and IECC climate zones.

Building America
IECC


Subarctic
Zone 8


Very Cold
Zone 7


Cold
Zone 5 and 6


Mixed-Humid
4A and 3A counties above warm-humid line


Mixed-Dry
Zone 4B


Hot-Humid
2A and 3A counties below warm-humid line


Hot-Dry
Zone 3B


Marine
All counties with a “C” moisture regime

This map shows trends in the total number of growing degree days per year at 305 weather stations . The color and size of the symbols represent percent change between 1948 and 2020, based on the long-term average rate of change. For more information: https://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators.

Growing degree days (GDDs) are used to estimate the growth and development of plants and insects during the growing season. Growing Degree Day are computed by subtracting a base value temperature from the mean daily temperature and are assigned a value of zero if negative. Base temperatures are a point below which development does not occur for the organism in question. Growing Degree Day products are created for base 0, 5, 10 and 15 degrees Celsius. GDD values are only accumulated during the Growing Season, April 1 through October 31.

A statewide grid surface (80m spatial resolution) delineating Degree Day accumulation across the state of Tasmania is produced daily for the Tasmanian growing season (i.e. between months October …Show full descriptionA statewide grid surface (80m spatial resolution) delineating Degree Day accumulation across the state of Tasmania is produced daily for the Tasmanian growing season (i.e. between months October through to April). The outputs are dynamic with the map products updated daily. Three map products are produced: GDD accumulation to date for the current growing season (i.e. heat accumulation tracker updated daily) GDD accumulation to date based on the 5 year average (i.e. averaged GDD units garnered from data 5 years prior to the current growing season; updated daily) GDD deviation from average (the difference between 1 and 2). Negative values indicate that the current growing season is cooler relative to the 5 year average, whereas positive values indicate a warmer season. Map outputs are based on daily records produced from 43 Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) weather station observation sites with further bias correction provided by 267 independent air temperature logger recording sites (courtesy of the Tasmanian Government Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE)). For operational real-time application, the mapping was fully automated in the R programming language and hosted on a cloud-based computing platform courtesy of Sense-T and hosted on the high performance computing cluster provided by the Tasmanian Partnership of Advanced Computing (TPAC) of the University of Tasmania. Refer to the following link for details of the latest map updates: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zcmq7c9aq5isq3s/Air_Temperature_TAS_map_log.txt

Species and climate databases

Occurrence data

The specimen data for Chinese ash was obtained from the Chinese Virtual Herbarium (2382 specimens, http://www.cvh.ac.cn/) and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (1426 specimens, http://www.gbif.org/) databases. The duplicate specimens and specimens without locational information or coordinates were removed. Then, the remaining specimens were rasterized onto a raster layer with 10-arcmin resolution. A grid cell was considered a suitable habitat when one or more specimens were located in it. Finally, the binary occurrence map with 10-arcmin resolution was converted into points, and we obtained 293 records with latitudinal and longitudinal values.

Climatic variables

There are many climatic factors have been demonstrated in previous studies to characterize the climatic niche of plant species or vegetation, such as temperature, precipitation, growing degree days, thermal and moisture variables. For example, 19 bioclimatic factors were used to characterize the global climatic niches of species in the BIOCLIM software and the WorldClim database (Hijmans et al., 2005; Booth, 2018); three factors were used to characterize global climatic niches of vegetation in the Holdridge life zone model (annual biotemperature, potential evapotranspiration and annual precipitation) (Holdridge, 1947); and three factors were used to characterize climatic niches of east Asia plant or vegetation in Kira’s index system (warmth index, coldness index and humidity index) (Kira, 1945). The three sets of climatic factors are widely used in research on the relationship between species/vegetation and climate, at a regional or global scale (e.g. Li et al., 2018; Huang et al., 2018).

In this study, we integrated the three sets of climatic factors based on BIOCLIM, Holdridge life zone model and Kira’s index system. An excess of climatic factors can cause overfitting for simulating process, so we only selected 8 of the 19 BIOCLIM variables based on our previous research. A total of 13 climatic factors were used to define the climatic niches of in China, which is sufficient for research on any species at a regional scale, including Chinese ash. The 13 climatic variables are introduced as follows:

Temperature factors include annual mean temperature (AMT), max temperature of the warmest month (MTWM), min temperature of the coldest month (MTCM), and annual range of temperature (ART=MTWM - MTCM).

Precipitation factors include annual precipitation (AP), precipitation of wettest month (PWM), precipitation of driest month (PDM), and precipitation of seasonality (PSD=Monthly coefficient of variation of precipitation).

Growing degree days is correlated with measures of accumulated growing-season warmth (Prentice et al., 1992). Here, we use annual biotemperature (ABT) represents growing degree days, which is calculated by ∑T/12 ( all temperatures below freezing and above 30 °C adjusted to 0 °C, as plants are dormant at these temperatures. ).

Thermal factors include warmth index [WI= ∑(T-5), T is >5 °C mean monthly temperature], coldness index [CI=-∑(5-T), T is <5 °C mean monthly temperature].

Moisture factors include potential evapotranspiration rate (PER=58.93×ABT/AP, ABT is annual biotemperature, AP is annual precipitation), humidity index (HI=AP/WI, AP is annual precipitation, WI is warmth index).

Current and future climate layers

The basic climatic layers of current and future climate scenarios were obtained from the WorldClim database (http://www.worldclim.org/). In the database, the current climatic layers were generated from thin plate smoothing splines using latitude, longitude, altitude, monthly temperature, and precipitation data from the averages of 51-year (1950–2000) climate station records (Hijmans et al., 2005). The future climatic layers were generated from many general circulation models (GCMs) with four representative concentration pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5). Here, the climatic layers of future scenarios are averaged by combining seven GCMs to deal with the uncertainty of GCMs under four representative concentration pathways (Huang et al., 2018). The seven GCMs were from seven modeling centers of six countries: BCC-CSM1-1, CCSM4, GISS-E2-R, HadGEM2-AO, IPSL-CM5A-LR, MIROC-ESM-CHEM, and NorESM1-M. The time-period from 2061–2080 was selected as the target future, in which the annual temperature in China will increase from 6.4°C to 8.2–10.6°C and the annual precipitation will increase from 576 mm to 603–623 mm based on ensemble average results of the seven GCMs in contrast to that of 1950-2000.

This dataset provides the annual date of snowpack seasonal beginning melt (i.e., main melt onset date, MMOD) across northwest Canada; Alaska, U.S.; and parts of far eastern Russia at 6.25 km resolution for the period 1988-2018. MMOD was derived from the daily 19V (K-band) and 37V (Ka-band) GHz bands from the Making Earth Science Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Calibrated Enhanced-Resolution Passive Microwave (PMW) EASE-Grid Brightness Temperature (Tb) Earth System Data Record (ESDR). The PMW MMOD dataset was validated using the transition date from Freeze Degree Days (FDD) to Thaw Degree Days (TDD) from in situ air temperature observations from 31 SNOw TELemetry network (SNOTEL) observations, and compared to the established Freeze-Thaw ESDR (FT-ESDR) spring onset date. The resulting MMOD data record is suitable for documenting the spatial-temporal impacts of MMOD variability in ecosystem services, wildlife movements, and hydrologic processes across the ABoVE domain. The data from 1988-2016 included a coastal mask removing coastal pixels due to potential water contamination from coarse brightness temperature observations (Dersken et al., 2012). There is not a coastal mask for the 2017-2018 data. The full data are included, and data users should be aware that coastal values can be adversely affected by adjacent water bodies.

Digital long-term topoclimate maps of the Pyrenees for the period 1950-2012 are elaborated by integrating meteorological station data, high-quality terrain information (altitude, latitude, distance to the sea and solar potential radiation) and multivariate geostatistical modelling in a Geographical Information System (GIS). The cartographic dataset, in monthly, seasonal and annual temporal resolutions, consists of: 1) climate maps of the air mean temperature (minimum, mean and maximum) and precipitation 2) maps of potential evapotranspiration (PET) and water availability, based on Thornthwaite and derived from the temperature and precipitation layers 3) map of the growing degree-days (GDD), with a monthly approach 4) maps of potential solar radiation. The Atlas is available in GeoTIFF format and metadata are provided in XML standard format (ISO 19139). The methodological details and related information are described in Batalla M, Ninyerola M, Catalan J [Geosci. Data J. 5 (2018)].