Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 2b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Prudhoe Bay, 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 Prudhoe Bay 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 Prudhoe Bay — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Prudhoe Bay — the short answer
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska: USDA zone 2b, about 98 days between hard freezes, across 250K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 2b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jun 7
- North Slope Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 13
- North Slope Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~98
- North Slope Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 250K 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 North Slope Borough’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 2b is Prudhoe Bay's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Prudhoe Bay's 98-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Prudhoe Bay
Each reading below is measured for Prudhoe Bay itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPrudhoe Bay runs about 98 days between hard freezes (read from North Slope Borough, the closest normal to Prudhoe Bay) — 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
MeasuredPrudhoe Bay sits in USDA hardiness zone 2b.
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 Prudhoe Bay
Plants matched to Prudhoe Bay's USDA zones 2b, 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 Prudhoe Bay?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jun 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Prudhoe Bay
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Prudhoe Bay. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- POINT MCINTYRE DEW LINE SITESuperfund · 3.0 mi
- MILNE POINT UNITBrownfields · 3.3 mi
- HILCORP ALASKA, LLC / PBU CENTRAL POWER STATION (CPS)Brownfields · 4.9 mi
- HILCORP ALASKA GREATER PRUDHOE BAY GATHERING CENTERS AND WELL PADSBrownfields · 5.1 mi
- HILCORP ALASKA GREATER PRUDHOE BAY GATHERING CENTERS AND WELL PADSToxics Release Inventory · 5.1 mi
- CROWLEY MARINE SERVICES INCBrownfields · 5.2 mi
- ALASKA FRONTIER CONSTRUCTORSBrownfields · 5.9 mi
- ENI NIKAITCHUQ DEVELOPMENTBrownfields · 7.0 mi
- OXBOW LANDFILLBrownfields · 7.7 mi
- ALYESKA TAPS PUMP STATION 01Brownfields · 8.1 mi
- NORTHSTAR OIL UNITBrownfields · 8.7 mi
- WELLBORE INTEGRITY SOLUTIONS, LLCBrownfields · 9.2 mi
4 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Prudhoe Bay'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 Prudhoe Bay.
Total Sites
19
within ~10 miles of Prudhoe Bay
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Prudhoe Bay
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Prudhoe Bay
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 Prudhoe Bay average
Your land is one point inside Prudhoe Bay
Everything above resolves to Prudhoe Bay as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 250K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from North Slope 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 Prudhoe Bay Average
Prudhoe Bay Average
- ●USDA Zones 2b, averaged across Prudhoe Bay
- ●One soil character for all of Prudhoe Bay
- ●Frost dates read at Prudhoe Bay's scale: Jun 7 to Sep 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Prudhoe Bay's 2b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Prudhoe Bay
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Prudhoe Bay averages can't show:
We read public map data around Prudhoe Bay — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Prudhoe Bay average
How we know this about Prudhoe Bay
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 North Slope 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 Prudhoe Bay
When does frost risk typically end in Prudhoe Bay?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Prudhoe Bay typically lands around Jun 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Prudhoe Bay?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Prudhoe Bay typically arrives around Sep 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 30, so the watching starts about Aug 14 — about 98 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Prudhoe Bay?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Prudhoe Bay sees about 98 frost-free days — roughly Jun 7 through Sep 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 28 to Aug 30, about 63 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Prudhoe Bay?
The federal record around Prudhoe Bay is a meaningful one — 19 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (17), the nearest Superfund record about 3.0 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 Prudhoe Bay?
With about 98 frost-free days between hard freezes, Prudhoe Bay 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 126 to 154 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the Jun 7 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Prudhoe Bay's scale — its 2b band and its 98-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Prudhoe Bay'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 Prudhoe Bay’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Prudhoe Bay's own scale — the 249,833 acres it covers and 19 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Prudhoe Bay's own USDA hardiness band, zones 2bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 19 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Prudhoe Bay, the closest Superfund record about 3.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Prudhoe Bay's boundary and the 249,833 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Prudhoe Bay has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom North Slope Borough
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Prudhoe Bay's 249,833 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom North Slope 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 North Slope 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 North Slope County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Prudhoe Bay's 249,833 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Prudhoe Bay you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 249,833 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record about 3.0 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 Prudhoe Bay-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaPrudhoe Bay sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides