I went from zone 8a to zone 8b. Below is the link to the updated map (it's on the USDA's website).
https://planthardiness.ars.usd...

I moved from 5b to 6a, but I'm right at the edge of it along the southern tip of Lake Michigan. I don't think I'm going to fully embrace that change, not just yet anyway. Our weather is just too unpredictable.

Edit: @dave might want to update the Zone Lookup area of the website to include the new map. I like how it lists what zone you're in/were per USDA map year.

Mine went from 4b to 5a!

"It feels like I'm not crazy." Gardeners aren't surprised as USDA updates key map.
NOVEMBER 17, 20236:41 AM ET

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17...

@dave

I've been working on it. They don't seem to be publishing the raw data of the zone map so our zipcode feature is likely to remain on the 2012 map for the time being. I will be adding the new graphics sometime soon, though.

What do you mean by "raw data"? I can try to see if I can find out more somehow (I'm unlikely to if you haven't found anything), but I can try to help.

I have a database that contains a mapping of zipcodes to zones, and I use that to let people look up their zone by zip on our site here: https://garden.org/nga/zipzone...

It's a nice feature. But I won't be able to offer it without the actual data.

If I had the data in any format (latitude/longitude) or even City, State I can work with that, as well.

I thought I found something, but it was based on the old map (even though it said "updated"). I found something else that sounded promising, but the "server was not found." Maybe in time they'll add more to access.

Thanks for letting us know! How often do they update that?

That map took forever to load on my laptop.

Last winter here was a reminder that this is not Z9 even if a map shows some patches with that label very nearby. But I do my best to cheat! LOL! That was a lot easier when I had copious amounts of leaves.

It says 2012 was the last time it was updated.

Thank you. It was taking so long to load, I didn't have the patience to wait. As more years of weather measurements are gathered, it makes sense to update now and then. Some places have less than 200 years of documentation.

It was giving me issues zooming in on AL (I was going to save it for you), but it says Opp, AL is zone 8b.

I found it:

https://planthardiness.ars.usd...

If that takes too long to load, hopefully this is clear:

Thank you. That is what it has always been. Unless we declare an end to deadly cold spells, it would be folly to think otherwise.

Bumped up my zone by 1/2 level. Supposedly from data for only the last 30 yrs. Read into the politics of that as u will.
I will remain skeptical, as yes, we do get some warmer stretches but we also got them when I was a child (longer than 30 yrs ago). Plus, 1 of our main nurseries told me B4 this latest update to trust the PREVIOUS number to that!!
So when we all get overconfident & make the retailers & wholesalers richer, will the USDA reimburse is for all our dead plants?

I think it said somewhere to just buy the zone you've been buying.

I've suspected for some time that the zones were wrong, so I pulled up the historical weather data for our region which showed that I was right. No one agreed, but now, vindication!!

Of course, everything still says we're still in zone 7b, so I just skip down to the nearest town in zone 8a and use the information I find there.