Imperial, NE 69033 Frost Dates
69033, near Imperial, NE: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/07, roughly 252 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/05, roughly 150 days after the last spring frost.
Imperial sits in USDA Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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
Imperial'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
05/07 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/27 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.
Imperial against the rest of the dataset
About 150 days separate Imperial's last and first frost, putting it 35,309 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NE, it ranks 511 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 69033: the frost range, on how to read the range around Imperial's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Imperial can differ from the 69033 normal.