Noatak, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 2a — 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 Noatak, 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 Noatak 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 Noatak — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Noatak — the short answer
Noatak, Alaska: USDA zone 2a, about 127 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 2a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 24
- Northwest Arctic Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 28
- Northwest Arctic Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~127
- Northwest Arctic Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 10K 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 Northwest Arctic Borough’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 2a is Noatak's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Noatak's 127-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Noatak
Each reading below is measured for Noatak itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNoatak runs about 127 days between hard freezes (read from Northwest Arctic Borough, the closest normal to Noatak) — 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
MeasuredNoatak sits in USDA hardiness zone 2a.
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 Noatak
Plants matched to Noatak's USDA zones 2a, 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 Noatak?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 28 — 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 Noatak
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Noatak. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- USARMY NGB NOATAK ARMORYSuperfund · 1.8 mi
Measured from Noatak'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 Noatak.
Total Sites
1
within ~10 miles of Noatak
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Noatak
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Noatak
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 Noatak average
Your land is one point inside Noatak
Everything above resolves to Noatak as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Northwest Arctic Borough’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 Noatak Average
Noatak Average
- ●USDA Zones 2a, averaged across Noatak
- ●One soil character for all of Noatak
- ●Frost dates read at Noatak's scale: May 24 to Sep 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Noatak's 2a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Noatak
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Noatak, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Noatak averages can't show:
We read public map data around Noatak — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Noatak average
How we know this about Noatak
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 Northwest Arctic Borough’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 Noatak
When does frost risk typically end in Noatak?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Noatak typically lands around May 24, 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 Jun 14.
When is the first frost in Noatak?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Noatak typically arrives around Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 14, so the watching starts about Aug 29 — about 127 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Noatak?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Noatak sees about 127 frost-free days — roughly May 24 through Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 14 to Sep 14, about 92 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Noatak?
The federal record around Noatak is a meaningful one — 1 documented site, mostly Superfund entries (1), the nearest Superfund record about 1.8 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 Noatak?
With about 127 frost-free days between hard freezes, Noatak 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 155 to 183 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 24 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Noatak's scale — its 2a band and its 127-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Noatak'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 Noatak’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Noatak's own scale — the 10,242 acres it covers and 1 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Noatak's own USDA hardiness band, zones 2aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Noatak, the closest Superfund record about 1.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Noatak's boundary and the 10,242 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Noatak has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Northwest Arctic Borough
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Noatak's 10,242 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Northwest Arctic 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 Northwest Arctic 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 Northwest Arctic County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Noatak's 10,242 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Noatak you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,242 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record about 1.8 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 Noatak-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaNoatak sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides