Watford City, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Watford City, 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 Watford City 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 Watford City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Watford City — the short answer
Watford City, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 153 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~153
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Watford City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Watford City's 153-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Watford City
Each reading below is measured for Watford City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWatford City runs about 153 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
MeasuredWatford City 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 Watford City is in
Watford City sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Watford City's own centroid rather than borrowed from McKenzie County.
What Grows in Watford City
Every plant below cleared Watford City's own zone 4a and its 153-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Watford City?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — 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 Watford City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Watford City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 150-098-19ABNitrate · 1000 ft
- McKenzie Electric Cooperative IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Watford City AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Chinook BuildingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 150-098-18DDCNitrate · 1700 ft
- 150-098-19BAANitrate · 2000 ft
- McKenzie County Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY #1812Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- CASH WISE FOODS - WATFORD 3042Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- City of Watford CityUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Cenex Farmers Union Oil (East)Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Freund Construction CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Watford City'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 Watford City.
Total Sites
167
within ~10 miles of Watford City
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
10 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Watford City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Watford City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Watford City, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 110 sites within ~10 miles of Watford City. 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 Watford City
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 Watford City average
Your land is one point inside Watford City
Everything above resolves to Watford City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K 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 Watford City Average
Watford City Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Watford City
- ●One soil character for all of Watford City
- ●Frost dates read at Watford City's scale: May 4 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Watford City's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Watford City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Watford City, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Watford City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Watford City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Watford City average
How we know this about Watford City
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 Watford City’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 Watford City
When does frost risk typically end in Watford City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Watford City typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Watford City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Watford City typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 153 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Watford City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Watford City sees about 153 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 20, about 118 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Watford City?
The federal record around Watford City shows 167 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (110), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 I protect my plants from frost in Watford City?
From about Sep 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Watford City's scale — its 4a band and its 153-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Watford City'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 Watford City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Watford City's own scale — its own ~153-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,706 acres it covers and 167 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Watford City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Watford City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 4 and the ~153-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 167 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Watford City, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Watford City's boundary and the 5,706 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~153-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Watford City's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Watford City's 5,706 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McKenzie County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McKenzie 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 McKenzie County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Watford City's 5,706 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Watford City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,706 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Watford City-wide figureread your own land →
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