Metlakatla, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, potato, kale, and rhubarb — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Metlakatla, 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 Metlakatla 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 Metlakatla — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Metlakatla — the short answer
Metlakatla, Alaska: USDA zone 8b, about 211 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- 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
- Town area
- 1K 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 8b is Metlakatla's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Metlakatla's 211-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Metlakatla
Each reading below is measured for Metlakatla itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMetlakatla runs about 211 days between hard freezes (read from Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, the closest normal to Metlakatla) — 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
MeasuredMetlakatla sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Metlakatla
Plants matched to Metlakatla's USDA zones 8b, 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 Metlakatla?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Metlakatla
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Metlakatla. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Unnamed (south of Metlakatla)Mining · 0.7 mi
- MetlakatlaMining · 0.8 mi
- Unnamed (near Metlakatla)Mining · 0.9 mi
- Yellow HillMining · 1.0 mi
- FAA Annette IslandUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Yellow Hill ChromiteMining · 1.1 mi
- METLAKATLA CY OF LANDFILLBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- Unnamed (near Yellow Hill)Mining · 1.4 mi
- METLAKATLA PORT OFBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- Unnamed (near Purple Lake)Mining · 1.6 mi
- Tamgas HarborMining · 2.0 mi
- METLAKATLA MAIN WOODWASTE SITEBrownfields · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Metlakatla'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 Metlakatla.
Total Sites
104
within ~10 miles of Metlakatla
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Metlakatla
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Metlakatla
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Metlakatla, Mining runs higher than the national average — 97 sites within ~10 miles of Metlakatla. 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.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Metlakatla
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 Metlakatla average
Your land is one point inside Metlakatla
Everything above resolves to Metlakatla as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Metlakatla Average
Metlakatla Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Metlakatla
- ●One soil character for all of Metlakatla
- ●Frost dates read at Metlakatla's scale: Apr 13 to Nov 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Metlakatla's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Metlakatla
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Metlakatla, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Metlakatla averages can't show:
We read public map data around Metlakatla — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Metlakatla average
How we know this about Metlakatla
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Metlakatla
When does frost risk typically end in Metlakatla?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Metlakatla 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 Metlakatla?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Metlakatla 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 Metlakatla?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Metlakatla 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 Metlakatla?
The federal record around Metlakatla is a meaningful one — 104 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (97), the nearest Mining record about 0.7 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 I protect my plants from frost in Metlakatla?
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 Metlakatla's scale — its 8b band and its 211-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Metlakatla'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 Metlakatla’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Metlakatla's own scale — the 1,480 acres it covers and 104 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Metlakatla's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 104 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Metlakatla, the closest Mining record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Metlakatla's boundary and the 1,480 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Metlakatla 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 Metlakatla's 1,480 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Prince of Wales-Hyder 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 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 Metlakatla's 1,480 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Metlakatla you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,480 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 0.7 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 Metlakatla-wide figureread your own land →