Nordic, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Nordic, 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 Nordic 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 Nordic — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nordic — the short answer
Nordic, Wyoming: USDA zone 5a, about 124 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- 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 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~124
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 5a is Nordic's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nordic's 124-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nordic
Each reading below is measured for Nordic itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNordic runs about 124 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
MeasuredNordic sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Nordic is in
Nordic sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Nordic's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Lincoln County is mostly Wyoming Basin. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Nordic
Every plant below cleared Nordic's own zone 5a and its 124-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nordic?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 22 — 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 Nordic
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nordic. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 36-119-26bcc01Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 36-119-26bcb01Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 36-119-22dbd01Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- 36-119-27acc01Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 36-119-22dba01Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- B & B GRAVELBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- 36-119-34cbd01Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- JENKINS BUILDING SUPPLYBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- 36-119-15bcc01Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- CitiFinancial Mortgage PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Etna Trading CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- 35-119-11ccb01Nitrate · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nordic'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 Nordic.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nordic
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nordic
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nordic, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 46 sites within ~10 miles of Nordic. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Nordic
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 Nordic average
Your land is one point inside Nordic
Everything above resolves to Nordic as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Nordic Average
Nordic Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Nordic
- ●One soil character for all of Nordic
- ●Frost dates read at Nordic's scale: May 21 to Sep 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nordic's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nordic
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nordic, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nordic averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nordic — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nordic average
How we know this about Nordic
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 Nordic’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 Nordic
When does frost risk typically end in Nordic?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nordic 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 Nordic?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nordic typically arrives around Sep 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 8, so the watching starts about Aug 23 — about 124 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nordic?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nordic sees about 124 frost-free days — roughly May 21 through Sep 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 11 to Sep 8, about 89 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nordic?
The federal record around Nordic shows 73 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (46), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.0 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 Nordic?
With about 124 frost-free days between hard freezes, Nordic 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 152 to 180 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 Nordic's scale — its 5a band and its 124-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nordic'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 Nordic’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Nordic's own scale — its own ~124-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,231 acres it covers and 73 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nordic's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Nordic's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 21 and Sep 22 and the ~124-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 73 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nordic, the closest Nitrate record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nordic's boundary and the 3,231 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~124-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Nordic sits in the Middle Rockies — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nordic's 3,231 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nordic's 3,231 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nordic you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,231 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.0 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 Nordic-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wyoming
Wider growing context
What grows across WyomingNordic sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides