Red Cloud, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Red Cloud, 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 Red Cloud 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 Red Cloud — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Red Cloud — the short answer
Red Cloud, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 657 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 657 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 5b is Red Cloud's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Red Cloud's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Red Cloud
Each reading below is measured for Red Cloud itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRed Cloud runs about 181 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
MeasuredRed Cloud sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Red Cloud is in
Red Cloud sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Red Cloud's own centroid rather than borrowed from Webster County.
What Grows in Red Cloud
Every plant below cleared Red Cloud's own zone 5b and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Red Cloud?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Red Cloud
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Red Cloud. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FARMERS COOP RED CLOUDBrownfields · 900 ft
- CPI/MR TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CASEYS GENERAL STORE #1583Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- 2N 11W15CDDD1Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- LDI - WEBSTER COUNTYCAFO · 4.4 mi
- LOUIS DINKLAGE LLC LDI WEBSTERCAFO · 4.4 mi
- GOTTSCH FEEDING CORP. - RED CLOUDCAFO · 4.5 mi
- JOE'S 66 SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- 2N 10W 4AC 1Nitrate · 6.8 mi
- 01S 10W 03ABA 01Nitrate · 7.4 mi
- 1N 9W 9CC 1Nitrate · 9.4 mi
Measured from Red Cloud'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 Red Cloud.
Total Sites
15
within ~10 miles of Red Cloud
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Red Cloud
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Red Cloud
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Red Cloud
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 Red Cloud average
Your land is one point inside Red Cloud
Everything above resolves to Red Cloud as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 657 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 Red Cloud Average
Red Cloud Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Red Cloud
- ●One soil character for all of Red Cloud
- ●Frost dates read at Red Cloud's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Red Cloud's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Red Cloud
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Red Cloud, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Red Cloud averages can't show:
We read public map data around Red Cloud — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Red Cloud average
How we know this about Red Cloud
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 Red Cloud’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 Red Cloud
When does frost risk typically end in Red Cloud?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Red Cloud typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Red Cloud?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Red Cloud typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 181 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Red Cloud?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Red Cloud sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 2, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Red Cloud?
The federal record around Red Cloud is light — 15 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (8), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 I protect my plants from frost in Red Cloud?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Red Cloud's scale — its 5b band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Red Cloud'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 Red Cloud’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Red Cloud's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 657 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Red Cloud's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Red Cloud's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 16 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Red Cloud, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Red Cloud's boundary and the 657 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Red Cloud's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Red Cloud's 657 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Webster County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Webster County
- The growing challenges every Nebraska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Nebraska
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Webster County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Red Cloud's 657 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Red Cloud you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 657 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Red Cloud-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaRed Cloud sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides