Australians, Does This Seem Right?

[PalmTreeDude 1,861]

Does this hardiness zone map seem about right?

[Yunder Wækraus 658]

I'm not Australian, but I'll be moving to Cairns in January (zone 12 on your map). It's hard to see the colors for the colder temperatures--are they on there?

[James West 53]

Hi PalmTreeDude. I live in Sydney, but unfortunately I'm a little colourblind. The map seems to indicate minus temperatures for Sydney. That does happen in the western suburbs of the Greater Sydney region, but coastal Sydney winter overnights rarely drop below about 8 celsius. Plenty of tropical flora here - even a couple of struggling coconuts in the City Gardens

[Daryl 1,805]

IMO the map doesn't really reflect the actual climates or their ability to sustain good palm health....too many other factors to consider besides minimum temps. Even the minimum temps cannot be depended on for example a lot of the map is zone 10a....the climate varies considerably, both in heat, winter max temps, humidity, rainfall, and also frequency of those cold temps...for some 10a areas the temps will occur for long periods every year, and for other areas the temps may occur once in 100 years...that is a huge difference just for minimum temps...some 10a areas on the map will produce scorching low humidity heat that many palms will not tolerate...so I don't know what you could use the map for?