Abie, NE 68001 Frost Dates
68001, near Abie, NE: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/26, roughly 241 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/11, roughly 168 days after the last spring frost.
Abie sits in USDA Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Abie's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/26 isn't a guarantee
04/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/08 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Abie against the rest of the dataset
Abie's growing season runs about 168 days, ranking 29,819 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NE, it ranks 275 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 68001: the frost range, on how to read the range around Abie's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Abie can differ from the 68001 normal.