Elk Creek, NE 68348 Frost Dates
Elk Creek, NE: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/23, about 238 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/13, roughly 172 days after the last spring frost.
Elk Creek 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
With roughly 7 weeks until Elk Creek'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
04/23 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/07 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.
Elk Creek against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 172 frost-free days, Elk Creek places 28,551 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NE, it ranks 176 of 605.
Learn more
Before leaning on 68348's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Elk Creek's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Elk Creek's dates instead of trusting one.