Howard City (Boelus), NE 68820 Frost Dates
68820, near Howard City (Boelus), NE: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/04, roughly 249 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/03, roughly 150 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Howard City (Boelus) in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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
Howard City (Boelus)'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/23 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.
Howard City (Boelus) against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 150 frost-free days, Howard City (Boelus) places 35,437 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NE, it ranks 520 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 68820: local microclimates, on what one yard in Howard City (Boelus) can differ from the 68820 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Howard City (Boelus)'s frost date answer different questions.