Kearney, NE 68848 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Kearney, NE, ZIP 68848
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/30, roughly 245 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/10, about 162 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Kearney in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5b around Kearney has about 6 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
Why 04/30 isn't a guarantee
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/16 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/12 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Kearney compares
At roughly 162 frost-free days, Kearney places 31,634 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NE, it ranks 348 of 605.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Kearney's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Kearney's dates instead of trusting one.