Creston, NE 68631 Frost Dates
68631, near Creston, NE: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/30, about 245 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/06, roughly 160 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Creston, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Creston'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.
Why 04/30 isn't a guarantee
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/15 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/12 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Creston against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 160 frost-free days, Creston places 32,532 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NE, it ranks 393 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 68631: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Creston's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Creston's dates instead of trusting one.