What Grows in West Glacier, Montana

The last hard freeze (28°F) in West Glacier typically lands around May 6, 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 27.

The first hard freeze (28°F) in West Glacier typically arrives around Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 17, so the watching starts about Sep 1 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, West Glacier sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 17, about 113 days.

The federal record around West Glacier is a meaningful one — 50 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (25), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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.

With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, West Glacier 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 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 6 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.