Atlantic, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Atlantic, 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 Atlantic 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 Atlantic — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Atlantic — the short answer
Atlantic, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 5K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 5a is Atlantic's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Atlantic's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Atlantic
Each reading below is measured for Atlantic itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAtlantic runs about 188 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAtlantic sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Atlantic is in
Atlantic sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Atlantic's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cass County.
What Grows in Atlantic
Every plant below cleared Atlantic's own zone 5a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Atlantic?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 Oct 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Atlantic
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Atlantic. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARNOLD MOTOR SUPPLYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- ATLANTIC FEED WATERBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- HENNINGSEN CONST INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CASEY''S GENERAL STORE 2365Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- AMERICAN BUILDINGS COToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- FORMER KENS WASH AND GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FORMER WINSTON SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- KUM & GO #502Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- AUTOMOTIVE COOLINGBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- ATLANTIC GOLF & COUNTRY CLUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CAMBLIN PLBG & HTG INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CASEY''S GENERAL STORE 3035Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Atlantic'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 Atlantic.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Atlantic
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Atlantic
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Atlantic, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Atlantic — CAFO (4 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (9 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Atlantic
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 Atlantic average
Your land is one point inside Atlantic
Everything above resolves to Atlantic as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K acres. 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 Atlantic Average
Atlantic Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Atlantic
- ●One soil character for all of Atlantic
- ●Frost dates read at Atlantic's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Atlantic's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Atlantic
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Atlantic, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Atlantic averages can't show:
We read public map data around Atlantic — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Atlantic average
How we know this about Atlantic
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 Atlantic’s own record; 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 Atlantic
When does frost risk typically end in Atlantic?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Atlantic 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 Atlantic?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Atlantic typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Atlantic?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Atlantic sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 4, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Atlantic?
The federal record around Atlantic is a meaningful one — 132 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (81), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 Atlantic?
From about Sep 18 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 Oct 18 (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 Oct 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Atlantic's scale — its 5a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Atlantic'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 Atlantic’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Atlantic's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,305 acres it covers and 132 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Atlantic's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Atlantic's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 18 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 132 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Atlantic, the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Atlantic's boundary and the 5,305 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Atlantic's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Atlantic's 5,305 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cass County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cass County
- The growing challenges every Iowa grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Iowa
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Cass County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Atlantic's 5,305 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Atlantic you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,305 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 Atlantic-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaAtlantic sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides