Center, NE 68724 Frost Dates
68724, near Center, NE: the frost window
Around 04/30 is the usual last spring frost, about 245 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/06, roughly 158 days after the last spring frost.
Center sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
Center'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 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Center against the rest of the dataset
About 158 days separate Center's last and first frost, putting it 33,176 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NE, it ranks 424 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 68724: the frost range, on how to read the range around Center's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Center can differ from the 68724 normal.