Coffman Cove, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Coffman Cove, 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 Coffman Cove 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 Coffman Cove — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Coffman Cove — the short answer
Coffman Cove, Alaska: USDA zone 8a, about 211 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 10
- Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~211
- Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Coffman Cove's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Coffman Cove's 211-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Coffman Cove
Each reading below is measured for Coffman Cove itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCoffman Cove runs about 211 days between hard freezes (read from Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, the closest normal to Coffman Cove) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredCoffman Cove sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Coffman Cove
Every plant below cleared Coffman Cove's own zone 8a and its 211-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Coffman Cove?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Coffman Cove
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Coffman Cove. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COFFMAN AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- Shakan Molybdenum DepositsMining · 6.2 mi
- Mccullough ProspectMining · 6.3 mi
- McculloughMining · 6.3 mi
- Unnamed On Blashke IslandsMining · 8.4 mi
- Unnamed (on Blashke Islands)Mining · 8.5 mi
- Blashke IslandsMining · 8.7 mi
- Blashke IslandMining · 9.3 mi
Measured from Coffman Cove'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 Coffman Cove.
Total Sites
8
within ~10 miles of Coffman Cove
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
7 mining sites (prospects, none worked)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Coffman Cove
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Coffman Cove
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 Coffman Cove average
Your land is one point inside Coffman Cove
Everything above resolves to Coffman Cove as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Prince of Wales-Hyder 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 Coffman Cove Average
Coffman Cove Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Coffman Cove
- ●One soil character for all of Coffman Cove
- ●Frost dates read at Coffman Cove's scale: Apr 13 to Nov 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Coffman Cove's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Coffman Cove
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Coffman Cove, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Coffman Cove averages can't show:
We read public map data around Coffman Cove — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Coffman Cove average
How we know this about Coffman Cove
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 Prince of Wales-Hyder 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 Coffman Cove
When does frost risk typically end in Coffman Cove?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Coffman Cove typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Coffman Cove?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Coffman Cove typically arrives around Nov 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 27, so the watching starts about Oct 11 — about 211 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Coffman Cove?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Coffman Cove sees about 211 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Nov 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 27, about 176 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Coffman Cove?
The federal record around Coffman Cove is light — 8 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Mining entries (7), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.9 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Coffman Cove?
From about Oct 11 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Coffman Cove's scale — its 8a band and its 211-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Coffman Cove'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 Coffman Cove’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Coffman Cove's own scale — the 6,973 acres it covers and 8 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Coffman Cove's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 8 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Coffman Cove, the closest Brownfields record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Coffman Cove's boundary and the 6,973 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~211-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Coffman Cove has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Coffman Cove's 6,973 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Prince of Wales-Hyder County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Prince of Wales-Hyder 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 Prince of Wales-Hyder County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Coffman Cove's 6,973 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Coffman Cove you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,973 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.9 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 Coffman Cove-wide figureread your own land →