Moorcroft, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Moorcroft, 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 Moorcroft 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 Moorcroft — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Moorcroft — the short answer
Moorcroft, Wyoming: USDA zone 4b, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 808 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- 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
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 808 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 Moorcroft's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moorcroft's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moorcroft
Each reading below is measured for Moorcroft itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMoorcroft runs about 149 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
MeasuredMoorcroft 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 Moorcroft is in
Moorcroft sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Moorcroft's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Crook County is mostly Middle Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Moorcroft
Every plant below cleared Moorcroft's own zone 4b and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moorcroft?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (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 Moorcroft
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moorcroft. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Little Thunder InnUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- John J. KummerfeldUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Sisson Hoe and DozerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Diehl's SupermarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- 50-067-31dcd01Nitrate · 1000 ft
- Stewarts TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Crook County School District #1 - Moorcroft Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Amoco Oil SS #9624Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Texaco - Donley Creek Field OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Dick's Hot Oil Service, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WY Department of TransportationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Moorcroft SinclairUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moorcroft'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 Moorcroft.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moorcroft
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moorcroft
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moorcroft, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 24 sites within ~10 miles of Moorcroft. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Moorcroft
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 Moorcroft average
Your land is one point inside Moorcroft
Everything above resolves to Moorcroft as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 808 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 Moorcroft Average
Moorcroft Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Moorcroft
- ●One soil character for all of Moorcroft
- ●Frost dates read at Moorcroft's scale: May 8 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moorcroft's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moorcroft
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moorcroft, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moorcroft averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moorcroft — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moorcroft average
How we know this about Moorcroft
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 Moorcroft’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 Moorcroft
When does frost risk typically end in Moorcroft?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moorcroft typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Moorcroft?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moorcroft 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 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moorcroft?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moorcroft sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 20, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Moorcroft?
The federal record around Moorcroft is light — 46 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (24), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Moorcroft?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Moorcroft 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 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 8 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Moorcroft's scale — its 4b band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moorcroft'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 Moorcroft’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Moorcroft's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 808 acres it covers and 46 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moorcroft's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Moorcroft's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 4 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 46 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moorcroft, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moorcroft's boundary and the 808 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Moorcroft sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Moorcroft's 808 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Crook County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Crook 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 Crook County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moorcroft's 808 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moorcroft you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 808 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Moorcroft-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wyoming
Wider growing context
What grows across WyomingMoorcroft sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides