Chester, NE 68327 Frost Dates
68327, near Chester, NE: the frost window
Around 04/24 is the usual last spring frost, about 239 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/15, roughly 172 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Chester in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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
Chester'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/24 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 05/05 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Chester against the rest of the dataset
About 172 days separate Chester's last and first frost, putting it 28,520 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NE, it ranks 168 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 68327: local microclimates, on what one yard in Chester can differ from the 68327 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Chester's frost date answer different questions.