Stuart, NE 68780 Frost Dates
68780, near Stuart, NE: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/04, about 249 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/04, roughly 152 days after the last spring frost.
Stuart 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
Stuart's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/04 isn't a guarantee
05/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/20 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/18 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Stuart against the rest of the dataset
About 152 days separate Stuart's last and first frost, putting it 34,859 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NE, it ranks 500 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 68780: local microclimates, on what one yard in Stuart can differ from the 68780 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Stuart's frost date answer different questions.