St. Michael, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in St. Michael, 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 St. Michael 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 St. Michael — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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St. Michael — the short answer
St. Michael, Alaska: USDA zone 3b, about 118 days between hard freezes, across 14K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 24
- Nome Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 19
- Nome Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~118
- Nome Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 14K 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 Nome Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 3b is St. Michael's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against St. Michael's 118-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in St. Michael
Each reading below is measured for St. Michael itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSt. Michael runs about 118 days between hard freezes (read from Nome Census Area, the closest normal to St. Michael) — 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
MeasuredSt. Michael sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 St. Michael
Plants matched to St. Michael's USDA zones 3b, 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 St. Michael?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near St. Michael
Closest first, within ~10 miles of St. Michael. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KC02301902CDBB1 001Nitrate · 6.4 mi
Measured from St. Michael'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 St. Michael.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of St. Michael
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in St. Michael
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 St. Michael average
Your land is one point inside St. Michael
Everything above resolves to St. Michael as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 14K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Nome 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 St. Michael Average
St. Michael Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across St. Michael
- ●One soil character for all of St. Michael
- ●Frost dates read at St. Michael's scale: May 24 to Sep 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not St. Michael's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in St. Michael
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in St. Michael, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that St. Michael averages can't show:
We read public map data around St. Michael — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the St. Michael average
How we know this about St. Michael
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 Nome 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 St. Michael
When does frost risk typically end in St. Michael?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in St. Michael 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 St. Michael?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in St. Michael typically arrives around Sep 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 5, so the watching starts about Aug 20 — about 118 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in St. Michael?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, St. Michael sees about 118 frost-free days — roughly May 24 through Sep 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 14 to Sep 5, about 83 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in St. Michael?
The federal record around St. Michael is light — 2 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (2), the nearest Nitrate record about 6.4 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 gardeners stretch the season in St. Michael?
With about 118 frost-free days between hard freezes, St. Michael 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 146 to 174 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 St. Michael's scale — its 3b band and its 118-day season. Your yard writes its own version of St. Michael'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 St. Michael’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at St. Michael's own scale — the 13,905 acres it covers and 2 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- St. Michael's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2 documented contamination sites on the federal record near St. Michael, the closest Nitrate record about 6.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- St. Michael's boundary and the 13,905 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — St. Michael has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Nome Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so St. Michael's 13,905 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Nome 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 Nome 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 Nome County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among St. Michael's 13,905 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of St. Michael you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,905 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 6.4 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 St. Michael-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaSt. Michael sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides