Last year the Arbor Day Foundation released the revised planting zone map that the American Horticultural Society created (with a grant from the USDA). The AHS published the map in their magazine, The American Gardener, in 2003 - but the USDA insisted that they withdraw it. That sounds like Bush Administration political nonsense - since the map would be very valuable to farmers and gardeners (and tree and garden nurseries...) - but it is also is more evidence of global warming - which they were denying.
As far as trees and other plants go - it dramatically affects what a person might be able to grow in their area - or the best times to plant. It takes the area that I live in from a zone 5 to a zone 6. Some people changed 2 zones.
At the Arbor Day site - there is an interactive map that shows the differences. Click on the "play" button.
An article from last May:
As climate changes, garden zone map does too
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