Lincoln, NE 68504 Frost Dates
68504, near Lincoln, NE: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/27, about 242 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/10, roughly 164 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Lincoln 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
Lincoln'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.
The actual range around Lincoln's last frost
04/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/13 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.
Lincoln against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 164 frost-free days, Lincoln places 30,793 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NE, it ranks 311 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 68504: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Lincoln's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Lincoln's dates instead of trusting one.