Bear River, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — 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 Bear River, 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 Bear River 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 Bear River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bear River — the short answer
Bear River, Wyoming: USDA zone 4b, about 127 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~127
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 4b is Bear River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bear River's 127-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bear River
Each reading below is measured for Bear River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBear River runs about 127 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
MeasuredBear River 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 Bear River is in
Bear River sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Bear River's own centroid rather than borrowed from Uinta County.
What Grows in Bear River
Every plant below cleared Bear River's own zone 4b and its 127-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bear River?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Bear River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bear River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 16-121-11ac 01Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- 16-121-01cdc01Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- Hertz Rent-a-CarUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 16-121-02bad02Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 16-121-13bd 01Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- Hornets NestUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- 17-120-32dbc01Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- 16-121-24bc 01Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- RELADYNE WESTToxics Release Inventory · 2.5 mi
- RELADYNE WESTBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- 16-121-24add01Nitrate · 2.6 mi
- Acma Tool EvanstonUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bear River'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 Bear River.
Total Sites
198
within ~10 miles of Bear River
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bear River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bear River
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Bear River
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 Bear River average
Your land is one point inside Bear River
Everything above resolves to Bear River as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Bear River Average
Bear River Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Bear River
- ●One soil character for all of Bear River
- ●Frost dates read at Bear River's scale: May 21 to Sep 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bear River's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bear River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bear River, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bear River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bear River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bear River average
How we know this about Bear River
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 Bear River’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 Bear River
When does frost risk typically end in Bear River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bear River typically lands around May 21, 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 Jun 11.
When is the first frost in Bear River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bear River typically arrives around Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 11, so the watching starts about Aug 26 — about 127 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bear River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bear River sees about 127 frost-free days — roughly May 21 through Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 11 to Sep 11, about 92 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bear River?
The federal record around Bear River shows 198 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (94), the nearest Nitrate 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 Bear River?
With about 127 frost-free days between hard freezes, Bear River 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 155 to 183 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 21 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Bear River's scale — its 4b band and its 127-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bear River'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 Bear River’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bear River's own scale — its own ~127-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,325 acres it covers and 198 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bear River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bear River's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 21 and Sep 25 and the ~127-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 198 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bear River, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bear River's boundary and the 1,325 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~127-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bear River's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bear River's 1,325 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Uinta County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Uinta County
- The growing challenges every Wyoming grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Wyoming
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Uinta County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bear River's 1,325 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bear River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,325 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Bear River-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wyoming
Wider growing context
What grows across WyomingBear River sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides