Ashland, NE 68003 Frost Dates
68003, near Ashland, NE: the frost window
Around 04/23 is the usual last spring frost, about 238 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/16, roughly 175 days after the last spring frost.
Ashland 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
Ashland's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/23 isn't a guarantee
04/23 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/08 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/05 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Ashland against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 175 frost-free days, Ashland places 26,925 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NE, it ranks 110 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 68003: the frost range, on how to read the range around Ashland's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Ashland can differ from the 68003 normal.