Winter, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Winter, 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 Winter 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 Winter — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Winter — the short answer
Winter, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 507 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- 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
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 507 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 Winter's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Winter's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Winter
Each reading below is measured for Winter itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWinter runs about 147 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
MeasuredWinter 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 Winter is in
Winter sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Winter's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sawyer County.
What Grows in Winter
Every plant below cleared Winter's own zone 4a and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Winter?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (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. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Winter
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Winter. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DOLLAR GENERAL #31483Brownfields · 400 ft
- ANDREWS FIN & FUR SPORT & BAITUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- THRANS FIN AND FURUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- DENENNYS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- JMG Petroleum LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- SW-39/05W/32-0022Nitrate · 700 ft
- SW-39/05W/32-0053Nitrate · 750 ft
- GARYS AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- SCALA SALVAGE YARDSuperfund · 900 ft
- School District Of Winter Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- TOWN OF WINTER GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Sawyer County Hwy DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Winter'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 Winter.
Total Sites
52
within ~10 miles of Winter
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Winter
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Winter
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Winter, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 37 sites within ~10 miles of Winter. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Winter
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 Winter average
Your land is one point inside Winter
Everything above resolves to Winter as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 507 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 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 Winter Average
Winter Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Winter
- ●One soil character for all of Winter
- ●Frost dates read at Winter's scale: May 10 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Winter's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Winter
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Winter, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Winter averages can't show:
We read public map data around Winter — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Winter average
How we know this about Winter
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 Winter’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 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 Winter
When does frost risk typically end in Winter?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Winter typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Winter?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Winter 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 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Winter?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Winter sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 20, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Winter?
The federal record around Winter is a meaningful one — 52 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Winter?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Winter 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 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 10 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Winter's scale — its 4a band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Winter'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 Winter’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Winter's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 507 acres it covers and 52 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Winter's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Winter's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 4 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 52 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Winter, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Winter's boundary and the 507 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Winter's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Winter's 507 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sawyer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sawyer County
- The growing challenges every Wisconsin grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Wisconsin
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Sawyer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Winter's 507 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Winter you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 507 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Winter-wide figureread your own land →
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