Butte County, in South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Butte County lies within the West River — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Butte County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Butte County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Butte County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Butte County — the short answer
Butte County, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 159 days between hard freezes, across 1.4M acres.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~159
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 1.4M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 4b is Butte County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Butte County's 159-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Butte County
Across a year, Butte County accumulates about 2,210 growing degree days above 50°F, about 216 fewer than the middle South Dakota county — ahead of 12 of South Dakota’s 66 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Butte County
Across Butte County, the ground is predominantly Entisols, where Winler, Lismas, and Pierre are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a clay surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.0–7.5, neutral. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Entisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
3%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Butte County
The USDA soil survey maps 88% of Butte County as well drained — but another 11% drains differently: 5% moderately well drained, 3% excessively drained.
Winler is the most extensive named soil at 13% of mapped acres, then Lismas (13%) and Pierre (7%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Butte County
Each reading below is measured for Butte County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Butte County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Butte County runs about pH 7.0–7.5, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredButte County runs about 159 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
MeasuredButte County sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Butte County is in
Butte County sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Butte County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Butte County's own USDA zone 4b and its own 159-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile.
Is it too late to plant in Butte County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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.
Documented around Butte County
- monarch butterfly1 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Butte County
USGS estimates 10,419 lb of Glyphosate on Butte County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (4,273 lb) and Chlorpyrifos (2,891 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Butte County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Butte County — 189 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Butte County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Butte County
Closest first, across Butte County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MINUTEMAN II NOVEMBER N-2 FLIGHTUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- MINUTEMAN II NOVEMBER (N-1) FLIGHTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
- 10N 5E27CCNitrate · 7.0 mi
- MISSILE FIELD NOVEMBER (N-11) FLIGHTUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.1 mi
- MINUTEMAN II NOVEMBER (N-10) FLIGHTUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.4 mi
- MINUTEMAN II NOVEMBER N-3 FLIGHTUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.4 mi
- UNITED STATES AIR FORCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- MINUTEMAN II NOVEMBER (N-9) FLIGHTUnderground Storage Tanks · 11.2 mi
- MINUTEMAN II NOVEMBER N-6 FLIGHTUnderground Storage Tanks · 11.8 mi
- MINUTEMAN II NOVEMBER N-5 FLIGHTUnderground Storage Tanks · 12.5 mi
- NEWELL STANDARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 12.7 mi
- 009N04E22DAAANitrate · 12.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Butte County'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 Butte County.
Total Sites
189
across Butte County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
across Butte County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Butte County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 106 sites across Butte County. 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 Butte County
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 Butte County average
Your land is one point inside Butte County
Everything above resolves to Butte County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 1.4M 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Butte County Average
Butte County Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Butte County
- ●One soil character for all of Butte County
- ●Frost dates read at Butte County's scale: May 1 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Butte County's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Butte County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Butte County, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Butte County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Butte County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Butte County average
How we know this about Butte County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Butte County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Butte County
When does frost risk typically end in Butte County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Butte County typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
How long is the growing season in Butte County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Butte County sees about 159 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 23, about 124 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Butte County?
The federal record around Butte County is a meaningful one — 189 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (106), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 5.0 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.
Everything above is measured at Butte County's scale — its 4b band and its 159-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Butte County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads South Dakota's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Butte County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Butte County's own scale — its own ~159-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 189 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Butte County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Butte County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~159-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Butte CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 189 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 5.0 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Butte County's boundary and the 1,440,005 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~159-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Butte County sitting wholly inside the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Butte County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Butte County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every South Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Dakota
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Butte County — the ~159 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Butte County's 1,440,005 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 189 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Butte Countyread your own land →