Moapa Valley, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Moapa Valley, 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 Moapa Valley 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 Moapa Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Moapa Valley — the short answer
Moapa Valley, Nevada: USDA zone 9a, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 28K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- Clark County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Clark County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- Clark County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 28K 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 Clark County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Moapa Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moapa Valley's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moapa Valley
Each reading below is measured for Moapa Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMoapa Valley runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from Clark County, the closest normal to Moapa Valley) — 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
MeasuredMoapa Valley sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Moapa Valley is in
Moapa Valley sits in the Mojave Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Moapa Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clark County.
What Grows in Moapa Valley
Every plant below cleared Moapa Valley's own zone 9a and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moapa Valley?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Moapa Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moapa Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Grant Bowler Elementary SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- Green Valley Grocer #58Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Price Pleaser (The) - ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Moapa Valley Water DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Overton Airport-ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Overton Power District #5Underground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- The Waterhole - ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Maverik Country Store #267Underground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- Shakeys ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- Mormon Mesa Radio RelayUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- Simplot Silica ProductsUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moapa Valley'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 Moapa Valley.
Total Sites
28
within ~10 miles of Moapa Valley
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moapa Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moapa Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moapa Valley, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 25 sites within ~10 miles of Moapa Valley. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Moapa Valley
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 Moapa Valley average
Your land is one point inside Moapa Valley
Everything above resolves to Moapa Valley as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 28K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Clark 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 Moapa Valley Average
Moapa Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Moapa Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Moapa Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Moapa Valley's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moapa Valley's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moapa Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moapa Valley, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moapa Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moapa Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moapa Valley average
How we know this about Moapa Valley
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 Clark 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 Moapa Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Moapa Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moapa Valley typically lands around Jan 25, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Moapa Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moapa Valley typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moapa Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moapa Valley sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Nov 28, about 286 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Moapa Valley?
The federal record around Moapa Valley is light — 28 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (25), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 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 Moapa Valley?
From about Nov 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Moapa Valley's scale — its 9a band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moapa Valley'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 Moapa Valley’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Moapa Valley's own scale — the 27,940 acres it covers and 28 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moapa Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 28 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moapa Valley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moapa Valley's boundary and the 27,940 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Moapa Valley's own centroid, the Mojave Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Moapa Valley has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Clark County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Moapa Valley's 27,940 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clark County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clark County
- The growing challenges every Nevada grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Nevada
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Clark County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moapa Valley's 27,940 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moapa Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 27,940 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 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 Moapa Valley-wide figureread your own land →
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