Minden, NE 68959 Frost Dates
68959, near Minden, NE: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/26, roughly 241 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 168 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Minden 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
Minden'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/10 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/08 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Minden against the rest of the dataset
About 168 days separate Minden's last and first frost, putting it 29,714 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NE, it ranks 256 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 68959: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Minden's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Minden's dates instead of trusting one.