Chappell, NE 69129 Frost Dates
69129, near Chappell, NE: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/08, roughly 253 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/05, roughly 149 days after the last spring frost.
Chappell 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
Chappell'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
05/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/21 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Chappell against the rest of the dataset
About 149 days separate Chappell's last and first frost, putting it 35,543 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NE, it ranks 528 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 69129: local microclimates, on what one yard in Chappell can differ from the 69129 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Chappell's frost date answer different questions.