Subject: Re: New Sunset Western Garden Book; Zone for Austin, TX help?

From: [email-masked] (Patrick Smith)
Date: 8 Mar 1995 19:24:45 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Amy Moseley Rupp) says:
>
>ref: courier.urbana.mcd.mot.com rec.gardens:54972 sci.geo.meteorology:13251 austin.talk:327
>
>Sunset includes Texas in its sales and discussions in its magazine,
>but it does not give zone information for Texas.  Would those
>knowledgeable be able to give a close match in climate in the
>Western states (NM, AZ, CA, CO, UT, WA, OR are a few)?
>
>
>Thanks!
>
>Record High: 109 F (hurts to type it)
>Record Low: -2 F (hurts to type it)
>Days Above 90 F: 105 (hurts to type it)
>Days Below 32 F: 21.1 (that's more like it!)
>Relative Humidity:  6 am:  83%; noon, 56%
>Annual Wind Speed: 9.2 mph
>Mean Max. July: 95 F (August a tad hotter)
>Mean Min. January: 39 F (December about the same, with a warmup in Feb.)
>First Freeze:  November 28
>Last Freeze:  March 3
>Growing Season: 270 days
>Annual Precip:  31.9 inches
>

It is hard to place texas climates into a western climate scheme. The
Sunset zones are based as much on the cooling effect of coastal fog
as on high-low record temps.

If I had to guess, s-central texas would be in Sunset zone 7 because
of your record low temps. Plants recommended for zones 8,9,12,14 have
trouble surviving temps below 22F. Zone 7 has hot summers and occational
temps below 15F.

I live in Novato, CA. near SF. There are 7 Sunset climate zones within
a 1 hour drive from here.

My neghborhood is in Sunset zone 16, USDA 9 1/2.....

Record High: 117 F  Last year 112
Record Low:  21 F   Last year 30
Days Above 90 F: 20
Days Below 32 F: 5
Annual Wind Speed: around 6-7 mph
Mean Max. July: 87 F (August a tad hotter)
Mean Min. January: 40 F
First Freeze:  December 10
Last Freeze:  January 30
Growing Season: 300+ days
Annual Precip:  24 inches