It’s about the time of year that Burpee and everybody else sends out their plant and seed catalogs, and people who garden or like to think about it sit around and dream through the dark cold days. Only they’re not as cold as they used to be, are they?

Before ordering your plants, go look at this. The Arbor Day Foundation hardiness zone map. Chances are very good you’re not in the one you think you are any more. Hit the button on the left side that says “See an animation illustrating changes.” It goes back to the 1990 map—just 17 years ago after all, the lifetime of my younger son—and then shifts to where the lines are now.

If you’re trying to keep a happy optimistic “now things can start getting better” holiday/post election feeling, you might want to just bookmark this and save it for next Tuesday or so. Because it will give you a very long lasting sinking feeling in the stomach, raise hairs on the back of your neck, and make you feel very mortal indeed, and afraid for your children.

No it’s not the end of the world, as far as we know. The NYT story to which this map was attached has some thoughts, better informed than mine anyway, on the significance of it all in practical terms.

But watch the lines shift on that map. And think about the next 16 years, and the next after that. And then go buy sets of those cool twisty low-wattage light bulbs for everybody on your list of Owe A Minor Present To. Starting with yourself.