Yakutat City and Borough, in Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zones 3a-4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Yakutat City and Borough lies within the Southeast Alaska / Inside Passage Panhandle — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Yakutat City and Borough holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Yakutat City and Borough, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Yakutat City and Borough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Yakutat City and Borough — the short answer
Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska: USDA zones 3a-4b, about 159 days between hard freezes, across 4.9M acres.
- USDA zones
- 3a-4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- YAKUTAT AIRPORT station, 41 ft — 70 km away, 30 yr record
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- YAKUTAT AIRPORT station, 41 ft — 70 km away, 30 yr record
- Days between freezes
- ~159
- YAKUTAT AIRPORT station, 41 ft — 70 km away, 30 yr record
- County area
- 4.9M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 3a-4b is Yakutat City and Borough's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Yakutat City and Borough's 159-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil in Yakutat County
Across Yakutat County, the ground is predominantly Entisols, where Drybay, Tidalwave, and Seclusion are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–6.2, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Entisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
33%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Yakutat City and Borough
The USDA soil survey maps 20% of Yakutat City and Borough as well drained — but another 16% drains differently: 8% very poorly drained, 4% poorly drained.
Drybay is the most extensive named soil at 5% of mapped acres, then Tidalwave (3%) and Seclusion (3%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Yakutat City and Borough
Each reading below is measured for Yakutat City and Borough itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Yakutat City and Borough are well drained, in hydrologic group A — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Yakutat City and Borough runs about pH 5.0–6.2, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 33% of Yakutat City and Borough is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredYakutat City and Borough runs about 159 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
What Grows in Yakutat City and Borough
We scored all 1,086 plants against Yakutat City and Borough's own USDA zone 3a-4b and its own 159-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile.
Is it too late to plant in Yakutat City and Borough?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Yakutat County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Yakutat County — 74 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Yakutat County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Yakutat City and Borough
Closest first, across Yakutat County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Icy BayMining · 36.0 mi
- Point Riou (near Icy Bay)Mining · 36.1 mi
- Russell FiordMining · 36.6 mi
- Riou BayMining · 37.0 mi
- CD02703329CDAA1 001 RCA YAKUTATNitrate · 37.9 mi
- CD02703329CDAA3 001 RCA YAKUTATNitrate · 37.9 mi
- Icy Bay (east of Carson Creek)Mining · 37.9 mi
- Icy Bay (northeast of Clay Bluff Point)Mining · 39.2 mi
- YAKUTAT CY AND BOROUGH OF CITY HALLBrownfields · 39.4 mi
- CD02703325AACB1 001 OLD PROD WELL 2Nitrate · 39.6 mi
- St Elias Auto CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 40.1 mi
- Yak-tat-kwan Native Corp.Underground Storage Tanks · 40.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Yakutat City and Borough'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 Yakutat City and Borough.
Total Sites
74
across Yakutat County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Yakutat County
Severity Distribution
across Yakutat County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Yakutat City and Borough, two things run higher than the national average across Yakutat County — Mining (29 sites) and Superfund (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Yakutat City and Borough
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 Yakutat City and Borough average
Your land is one point inside Yakutat City and Borough
Everything above resolves to Yakutat City and Borough as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 4.9M acres. 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Yakutat City and Borough Average
Yakutat City and Borough Average
- ●USDA Zones 3a-4b, averaged across Yakutat City and Borough
- ●One soil character for all of Yakutat City and Borough
- ●Frost dates read at Yakutat City and Borough's scale: May 2 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Yakutat City and Borough's 3a-4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Yakutat City and Borough
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Yakutat City and Borough averages can't show:
We read public map data around Yakutat City and Borough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Yakutat City and Borough average
How we know this about Yakutat City and Borough
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Yakutat City and Borough carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Yakutat City and Borough
When does frost risk typically end in Yakutat City and Borough?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Yakutat City and Borough typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
How long is the growing season in Yakutat City and Borough?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Yakutat City and Borough sees about 159 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 24, about 124 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Yakutat City and Borough?
The federal record around Yakutat City and Borough is a meaningful one — 74 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (29), the nearest Mining record about 36 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.
Everything above is measured at Yakutat City and Borough's scale — its 3a-4b band and its 159-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Yakutat City and Borough's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Alaska's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Yakutat City and Borough’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Yakutat City and Borough's own scale — its own ~159-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 74 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Yakutat City and Borough's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3a-4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Yakutat City and Borough's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~159-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Yakutat City and BoroughUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 74 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Mining record about 36 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Yakutat City and Borough's boundary and the 4,882,178 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3a-4b and a ~159-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Alaska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alaska
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Yakutat City and Borough — the ~159 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Yakutat City and Borough's 4,882,178 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 74 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Yakutat City and Boroughread your own land →