Chuathbaluk, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chuathbaluk, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Chuathbaluk lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Chuathbaluk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chuathbaluk — the short answer
Chuathbaluk, Alaska: USDA zone 3a, about 142 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- Bethel Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 29
- Bethel Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~142
- Bethel Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 3K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Bethel Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 3a is Chuathbaluk's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chuathbaluk's 142-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chuathbaluk
Each reading below is measured for Chuathbaluk itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsChuathbaluk runs about 142 days between hard freezes (read from Bethel Census Area, the closest normal to Chuathbaluk) — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredChuathbaluk sits in USDA hardiness zone 3a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
What Grows in Chuathbaluk
Plants matched to Chuathbaluk's USDA zones 3a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Chuathbaluk?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Chuathbaluk
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chuathbaluk. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Unnamed (southern Russian Mountains)Mining · 6.3 mi
- Konechney Prospect (Mission Creek)Mining · 6.8 mi
- Mission Creek Gold-Silver-Copper ProspectMining · 6.9 mi
- MissionMining · 7.0 mi
- HeadwallMining · 7.2 mi
- LouiseMining · 7.5 mi
- Owhat (Cobalt Creek)Mining · 7.6 mi
- Cobalt CreekMining · 8.0 mi
- Unnamed (northern Russian Mountains)Mining · 8.7 mi
- Bethel Power ProductsUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- USDOT FAA ANIAK STATIONSuperfund · 9.5 mi
- Markair - Aniak StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.5 mi
4 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chuathbaluk's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Chuathbaluk.
Total Sites
16
within ~10 miles of Chuathbaluk
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chuathbaluk
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Chuathbaluk
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chuathbaluk average
Your land is one point inside Chuathbaluk
Everything above resolves to Chuathbaluk as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bethel Census Area’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Chuathbaluk Average
Chuathbaluk Average
- ●USDA Zones 3a, averaged across Chuathbaluk
- ●One soil character for all of Chuathbaluk
- ●Frost dates read at Chuathbaluk's scale: May 10 to Sep 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chuathbaluk's 3a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chuathbaluk
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chuathbaluk, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chuathbaluk averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chuathbaluk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chuathbaluk average
How we know this about Chuathbaluk
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Bethel Census Area’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Chuathbaluk
When does frost risk typically end in Chuathbaluk?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chuathbaluk typically lands around May 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 31.
When is the first frost in Chuathbaluk?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chuathbaluk typically arrives around Sep 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 15, so the watching starts about Aug 30 — about 142 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chuathbaluk?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chuathbaluk sees about 142 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Sep 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 15, about 107 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chuathbaluk?
The federal record around Chuathbaluk is a meaningful one — 16 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (10), the nearest Mining record about 6.3 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Chuathbaluk?
With about 142 frost-free days between hard freezes, Chuathbaluk rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 170 to 198 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 10 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Chuathbaluk's scale — its 3a band and its 142-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chuathbaluk's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Chuathbaluk’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Chuathbaluk's own scale — the 2,860 acres it covers and 16 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chuathbaluk's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 16 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chuathbaluk, the closest Mining record about 6.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chuathbaluk's boundary and the 2,860 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Chuathbaluk has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bethel Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chuathbaluk's 2,860 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bethel County
- The candidate plant list — Alaska's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Alaska
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bethel County
- The growing challenges every Alaska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alaska
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Bethel County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chuathbaluk's 2,860 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chuathbaluk you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,860 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 6.3 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Chuathbaluk-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaChuathbaluk sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides