Nord, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Nord, 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 Nord 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 Nord — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nord — the short answer
Nord, California: USDA zone 9b, about 332 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 19
- Butte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 17
- Butte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~332
- Butte County 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 Butte County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Nord's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nord's 332-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nord
Each reading below is measured for Nord itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNord runs about 332 days between hard freezes (read from Butte County, the closest normal to Nord) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredNord sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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
The kind of country Nord is in
Nord sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Nord's own centroid rather than borrowed from Butte County.
What Grows in Nord
Every plant below cleared Nord's own zone 9b and its 332-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nord?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Nord
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nord. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 022N001W11M002MNitrate · 750 ft
- 022N001W10A002MNitrate · 2400 ft
- JJ HEAVY EQUIPMENTBrownfields · 2400 ft
- 022N001W11D001MNitrate · 2500 ft
- 022N001W03H001MNitrate · 1.2 mi
- JAMES M. PAIVA - PAIVA FARMSBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- 022N001W09B002MNitrate · 1.5 mi
- PAIVA FARMSBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- NEWHALL LAND & FARM WILSON RANCHBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- DOS ARBOLES INCORPORATEDBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- NORTH VALLEY AG SERVICESBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- 022N001W01D001MNitrate · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nord'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 Nord.
Total Sites
896
within ~10 miles of Nord
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nord
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nord
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nord, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 600 sites within ~10 miles of Nord. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Nord
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 Nord average
Your land is one point inside Nord
Everything above resolves to Nord as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Butte County’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 Nord Average
Nord Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Nord
- ●One soil character for all of Nord
- ●Frost dates read at Nord's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nord's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nord
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nord, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nord averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nord — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nord average
How we know this about Nord
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 Butte County’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 Nord
When does frost risk typically end in Nord?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nord typically lands around Jan 19, 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 Feb 9.
When is the first frost in Nord?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nord typically arrives around Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 3, so the watching starts about Nov 17 — about 332 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nord?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nord sees about 332 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 3, about 297 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nord?
The federal record around Nord is a meaningful one — 896 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (600), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Nord?
From about Nov 17 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 Dec 17 (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 Dec 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Nord's scale — its 9b band and its 332-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nord'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 Nord’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Nord's own scale — the 1,348 acres it covers and 896 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nord's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 896 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nord, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nord's boundary and the 1,348 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~332-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Nord's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Nord has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Butte County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nord's 1,348 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Butte County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Butte County
- The growing challenges every California grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom California
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Butte County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nord's 1,348 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nord you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,348 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Nord-wide figureread your own land →
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