Hendley, NE 68946 Frost Dates
68946, near Hendley, NE: the frost window
Around 05/04 is the usual last spring frost, about 249 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/04, roughly 150 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Hendley 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
Hendley'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 04/22 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/20 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Hendley against the rest of the dataset
About 150 days separate Hendley's last and first frost, putting it 35,468 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NE, it ranks 526 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 68946: the frost range, on how to read the range around Hendley's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Hendley can differ from the 68946 normal.