Hatteras, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hatteras, 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 Hatteras 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 Hatteras — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hatteras — the short answer
Hatteras, North Carolina: USDA zone 9a, about 303 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Dare County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Dare County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~303
- Dare County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Dare County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Hatteras's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hatteras's 303-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hatteras
Each reading below is measured for Hatteras itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHatteras runs about 303 days between hard freezes (read from Dare County, the closest normal to Hatteras) — 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
MeasuredHatteras 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 Hatteras is in
Hatteras sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hatteras's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dare County.
What Grows in Hatteras
Every plant below cleared Hatteras's own zone 9a and its 303-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hatteras?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Hatteras
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hatteras. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BALLANCE OIL CO., INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- BALLANCE OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- DA-217 WEATHER BUREAUNitrate · 900 ft
- MIDGETT BROTHERS SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- DA-216 BLUE MARLIN CAFENitrate · 1400 ft
- ODENS DOCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- VILLAGE MARINA LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- HATTERAS HARBOR MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- PELICANS ROOSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HATTERAS CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WILLIS BOAT LANDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- VILLAGE MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hatteras'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 Hatteras.
Total Sites
50
within ~10 miles of Hatteras
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hatteras
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hatteras
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hatteras, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 22 sites within ~10 miles of Hatteras. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Hatteras
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 Hatteras average
Your land is one point inside Hatteras
Everything above resolves to Hatteras as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Dare 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 Hatteras Average
Hatteras Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Hatteras
- ●One soil character for all of Hatteras
- ●Frost dates read at Hatteras's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hatteras's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hatteras
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hatteras, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hatteras averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hatteras — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hatteras average
How we know this about Hatteras
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 Dare 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 Hatteras
When does frost risk typically end in Hatteras?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hatteras typically lands around Feb 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 Mar 11.
When is the first frost in Hatteras?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hatteras typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 303 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hatteras?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hatteras sees about 303 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Dec 4, about 268 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hatteras?
The federal record around Hatteras is a meaningful one — 50 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (23), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Hatteras?
From about Nov 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 Dec 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 Dec 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hatteras's scale — its 9a band and its 303-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hatteras'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 Hatteras’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hatteras's own scale — the 1,009 acres it covers and 50 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hatteras's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 50 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hatteras, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hatteras's boundary and the 1,009 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~303-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hatteras's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hatteras has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Dare County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hatteras's 1,009 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dare County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dare County
- The growing challenges every North Carolina grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom North Carolina
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Dare County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hatteras's 1,009 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hatteras you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,009 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Hatteras-wide figureread your own land →