Ray, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ray, 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 Ray 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 Ray — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ray — the short answer
Ray, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 143 days between hard freezes, across 845 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- 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
- ~143
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 845 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 4a is Ray's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ray's 143-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ray
Each reading below is measured for Ray itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRay runs about 143 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
MeasuredRay sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Ray is in
Ray sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ray's own centroid rather than borrowed from Williams County.
What Grows in Ray
Every plant below cleared Ray's own zone 4a and its 143-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ray?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (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. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Ray
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ray. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Big Gs GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Gas N All Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Ralphs Standard ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Oles Off Sale and Lena's SinclairUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Farmers Union Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Tank Chevrolet CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Ray Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 156-097-09CDCNitrate · 0.7 mi
- 156-097-09CAANitrate · 1.1 mi
- 156-097-15BBB1Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 156-097-05BDDNitrate · 2.2 mi
- 156-097-26BBA1Nitrate · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ray'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 Ray.
Total Sites
54
within ~10 miles of Ray
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ray
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ray
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ray, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Ray. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Ray
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 Ray average
Your land is one point inside Ray
Everything above resolves to Ray as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 845 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 Ray Average
Ray Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Ray
- ●One soil character for all of Ray
- ●Frost dates read at Ray's scale: May 7 to Sep 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ray's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ray
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ray, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ray averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ray — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ray average
How we know this about Ray
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 Ray’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 Ray
When does frost risk typically end in Ray?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ray typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Ray?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ray 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 143 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ray?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ray sees about 143 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 13, about 108 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ray?
The federal record around Ray shows 54 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (38), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Ray?
With about 143 frost-free days between hard freezes, Ray 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 171 to 199 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 7 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Ray's scale — its 4a band and its 143-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ray'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 Ray’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ray's own scale — its own ~143-day season between 28°F freezes, the 845 acres it covers and 54 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ray's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ray's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Sep 27 and the ~143-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 54 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ray, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ray's boundary and the 845 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~143-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ray's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ray's 845 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Williams County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Williams County
- The growing challenges every North Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom North Dakota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Williams County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ray's 845 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ray you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 845 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Ray-wide figureread your own land →
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