Mead, NE 68041 Frost Dates
Mead, NE: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/25, roughly 240 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/13, roughly 170 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Mead in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 7 weeks until Mead's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/25 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/09 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/07 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Mead against the rest of the dataset
Mead's growing season runs about 170 days, ranking 29,168 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NE, it ranks 210 of 605.
Learn more
Before leaning on 68041's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Mead's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Mead can differ from the 68041 normal.