No discussion of the temperature record is complete without debunkning the myth that the temperature record is unreliable or somehow skewed by heat islands. http://skepticalscience.com/surface-temperature-measurements.htm It's valid. The planet is warming. Man's activity is making a significant, measurable contribution to that warming. We (species) are set for "interesting times" Here is a link that might be useful: http://skepticalscience.com/surface-temperature-measurements.htm

alabamanicole, This map has nothing to do with when you plant your garden. This map is made for plant selection. It is telling you that you can grow plants that can take temperatures as low as 5-10 F. You are still in zone 7a for frost dates and when you can safely plant your garden. Hope this helps you and maybe keeps others from planting to soon thinking they are now in zone 7b for planting time. Later Dwight

I had to get over here to say FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY and thank you Kim!!! Have been waiting for almost 8 years for this and it finally happened. You have truly been a trooper trying to keep us all updated. That's a nice looking map too.

Great observation. I have not visited US West Coast ever, but yes, Azores has rather high temp for lows and low for highs. I did not know SFO has ~45F as all time lows though. Azores about 8 months of the year are taking long time to warm up even into June and are staying mostly below 70F and then when they warm in June-July up they stay mostly above 66F for 3-4 months. If SFO has never below 45F it is a perfect climate for most. According to this website SFO is not an exact match to the Azores islands: https://www.tripsavvy.com/san-francisco-climate-and-weather-1479149 "San Francisco Weather Records The highest recorded temperature in San Francisco was 39°C on July 17, 1988, and June 14, 2000. The lowest was −3°C on December 11, 1932." Azores never above 30C (86F) and never below 6C (45F). Some very rare historical tempos may show above 30C or below 6C in the Azores, but those are rather very rare exceptions. Usually 10C to 25C or 50F to 77F and very stable at that. Although it can be "close", but in the Azores summer temperatures are very constantly (and stable) at 68F to 77F with very strong sunshine and very high humidity above 75% most of the time, which makes sure your skin never cracks. The temp never goes below 65F in summer months between late June and first part of September. Probably a better match for NZ climate although I have not studied it and much more tropical than NZ or SFO, even that Azores are at 36 to 39 degrees latitude above the Equator, but the Gulf Stream makes Azores climate milder by at least 10 to 15 degrees above and beyond the Equator, which means while tropics usually begin with about 25 or 24 degrees above the Equator the Gulf Stream warms it up and the tropics in the Northern Atlantic are located up to 40 degrees latitude. Those may be not typical tropics, but rather pseudo-tropics or extra-tropics where the lows are lower and the highs are also lower, but influence from the Gulf Stream makes it more or less tropical. I would call them Mild or Cool Oceanic Tropics and some sources refer them rather incorrectly as to Temperate Climate, but temperate climate usually has freezing temperatures as lows, so this is not even SFO climate and rather an exceptional, a very rare fully oceanic pseudo-tropical climate, probably unique in the world along with Madeira. Some say Lord Howe Island has a similar climate, yet Lord Howe Island is within typical subtropical latitudes (31 degrees above Equator) and the Azores are way North at 36 to 39 degrees above Equator. Also, I know someone near me who is growing a coconut palm tree and to my opinion it looks a bit miserable and I doubt it will ever produce fruit. It needs heat, much more than Azores can produce, I must agree that Azores is not a true tropical climate and not a true subtropical climate either or not a true temperate climate either and needs a name of its own. Perhaps one should name it a Gulf Stream influenced extra-tropics. I do grow most tropical palms here, but some super-tropicals, that require constant at least 18C to 35C do not do well here and some have died as seedlings, but I am not sure how they would do as adult plants. If anyone wants to send me adult palms from super-tropics I could test grow them here. So having said all that it means that Azores is lacking HEAT and its all time lows or constant lows are too low to treat it as true tropics, such as Singapore, Philippines etc. but Eucalyptus deglupta does fine here even as mini-seedlings being held outdoors even in full wind and so do bananas, even with insufficient heat. I do test a lot of tropical plants here and some or rather most survive fine and some do not do well or even die, probabaly from excessive rain in winter, and or wind. Most tropical palm seedlings do fine, or do well and survived 3 "winters" so far.