Neah Bay, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Neah Bay, 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 Neah Bay 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 Neah Bay — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Neah Bay — the short answer
Neah Bay, Washington: USDA zone 9a, about 248 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 15
- Clallam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 18
- Clallam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~248
- Clallam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Clallam County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Neah Bay's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Neah Bay's 248-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Neah Bay
Each reading below is measured for Neah Bay itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNeah Bay runs about 248 days between hard freezes (read from Clallam County, the closest normal to Neah Bay) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredNeah Bay 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 Neah Bay is in
Neah Bay sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Neah Bay's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clallam County.
What Grows in Neah Bay
Every plant below cleared Neah Bay's own zone 9a and its 248-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Neah Bay?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Neah Bay
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Neah Bay. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 33N/15W-14C01Nitrate · 800 ft
- 33N/15W-10R01Nitrate · 2300 ft
- MAKAH RESERVATION WARMHOUSE BEACH DUMPSuperfund · 2.8 mi
- SNOW CREEK RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
- RAY'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.2 mi
Measured from Neah Bay'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 Neah Bay.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Neah Bay
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Neah Bay
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 Neah Bay average
Your land is one point inside Neah Bay
Everything above resolves to Neah Bay as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Clallam 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 Neah Bay Average
Neah Bay Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Neah Bay
- ●One soil character for all of Neah Bay
- ●Frost dates read at Neah Bay's scale: Mar 15 to Nov 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Neah Bay's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Neah Bay
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Neah Bay, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Neah Bay averages can't show:
We read public map data around Neah Bay — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Neah Bay average
How we know this about Neah Bay
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 Clallam 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 Neah Bay
When does frost risk typically end in Neah Bay?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Neah Bay typically lands around Mar 15, 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 Apr 5.
When is the first frost in Neah Bay?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Neah Bay typically arrives around Nov 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 4, so the watching starts about Oct 19 — about 248 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Neah Bay?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Neah Bay sees about 248 frost-free days — roughly Mar 15 through Nov 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 5 to Nov 4, about 213 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Neah Bay?
The federal record around Neah Bay is a meaningful one — 7 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (4), the nearest Nitrate 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 Neah Bay?
From about Oct 19 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 Nov 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 Nov 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Neah Bay's scale — its 9a band and its 248-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Neah Bay'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 Neah Bay’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Neah Bay's own scale — the 1,501 acres it covers and 7 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Neah Bay's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 7 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Neah Bay, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Neah Bay's boundary and the 1,501 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~248-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Neah Bay's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Neah Bay has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Clallam County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Neah Bay's 1,501 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clallam County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clallam County
- The growing challenges every Washington grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Washington
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Clallam County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Neah Bay's 1,501 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Neah Bay you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,501 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Neah Bay-wide figureread your own land →