Cozad, NE 69130 Frost Dates
69130, near Cozad, NE: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/30, about 245 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/09, roughly 162 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Cozad 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
Cozad'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
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/16 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/13 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Cozad against the rest of the dataset
About 162 days separate Cozad's last and first frost, putting it 31,726 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NE, it ranks 350 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 69130: local microclimates, on what one yard in Cozad can differ from the 69130 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Cozad's frost date answer different questions.