Snowslip, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Snowslip, 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 Snowslip 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 Snowslip — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Snowslip — the short answer
Snowslip, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 136 days between hard freezes, across 504 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~136
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 504 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 4b is Snowslip's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Snowslip's 136-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Snowslip
Each reading below is measured for Snowslip itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSnowslip runs about 136 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredSnowslip sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Snowslip is in
Snowslip sits in the Canadian Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Snowslip's own centroid rather than borrowed from Flathead County.
What Grows in Snowslip
Every plant below cleared Snowslip's own zone 4b and its 136-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Snowslip?
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 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Snowslip
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Snowslip. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Great NorthernMining · 5.2 mi
- LippincottMining · 5.2 mi
- OkedaleMining · 5.2 mi
- IZAAK WALTON INNUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
Measured from Snowslip'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 Snowslip.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Snowslip
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Snowslip
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 Snowslip average
Your land is one point inside Snowslip
Everything above resolves to Snowslip as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 504 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 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 Snowslip Average
Snowslip Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Snowslip
- ●One soil character for all of Snowslip
- ●Frost dates read at Snowslip's scale: May 14 to Sep 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Snowslip's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Snowslip
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Snowslip, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Snowslip averages can't show:
We read public map data around Snowslip — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Snowslip average
How we know this about Snowslip
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 Snowslip’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 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 Snowslip
When does frost risk typically end in Snowslip?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Snowslip typically lands around May 14, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Snowslip?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Snowslip typically arrives around Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 13, so the watching starts about Aug 28 — about 136 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Snowslip?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Snowslip sees about 136 frost-free days — roughly May 14 through Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 4 to Sep 13, about 101 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Snowslip?
The federal record around Snowslip is light — 4 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Mining entries (3), the nearest Mining record about 5.2 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 Snowslip?
With about 136 frost-free days between hard freezes, Snowslip 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 164 to 192 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 14 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Snowslip's scale — its 4b band and its 136-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Snowslip'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 Snowslip’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Snowslip's own scale — its own ~136-day season between 28°F freezes, the 504 acres it covers and 4 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Snowslip's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Snowslip's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 14 and Sep 27 and the ~136-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 4 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Snowslip, the closest Mining record about 5.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Snowslip's boundary and the 504 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~136-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Snowslip's own centroid, the Canadian RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Snowslip's 504 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Flathead County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Flathead County
- The growing challenges every Montana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Montana
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Flathead County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Snowslip's 504 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Snowslip you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 504 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 5.2 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 Snowslip-wide figureread your own land →