Minnesota climate

Minnesota Plant Hardiness Zones

Minnesota’s towns run from zone 3a to zone 5a: the average coldest winter night is -15.6°F at Saint Paul and -36.1°F at Babbitt.

Hardiness zones in Minnesota

In USDA’s colors, neighboring states washed out. Zones follow elevation, coasts and cities down to half a mile. Drawn by WeatherOverTime from the USDA-ARS and Oregon State University PRISM Climate Group 2023 GIS data; this is not the official USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

Map of the 2023 plant hardiness zones across Minnesota, from zone 3a to zone 5a, with the state’s border drawn.
  • 3a
  • 3b
  • 4a
  • 4b
  • 5a

Open the live map with plant hardiness zones

Towns by zone

Each town’s 1991-2020 average annual extreme minimum at its center, read from the map’s 800 m grid. Warmest zone first.

5a Zone 5a, -20 to -15°F 168 towns

4b Zone 4b, -25 to -20°F 216 towns

4a Zone 4a, -30 to -25°F 97 towns

3b Zone 3b, -35 to -30°F 30 towns

3a Zone 3a, -40 to -35°F 3 towns

Counties

At the county’s center; a county with hills or a coast spans several zones.

CountyZone at the centerAverage coldest night
Aitkin County4a-27.3°F
Anoka County4b-21.4°F
Becker County4a-29.4°F
Beltrami County3b-32.7°F
Benton County4b-25°F
Big Stone County4b-22.5°F
Blue Earth County5a-19.7°F
Brown County5a-19.4°F
Carlton County4a-26.4°F
Carver County4b-20.4°F
Cass County4a-29.7°F
Chippewa County4b-21.6°F
Chisago County4b-24.5°F
Clay County4a-26.2°F
Clearwater County3b-32.3°F
Cook County4a-27.4°F
Cottonwood County5a-18.8°F
Crow Wing County4a-27.4°F
Dakota County5a-19.2°F
Dodge County5a-19.6°F
Douglas County4b-24.4°F
Faribault County5a-19.4°F
Fillmore County4b-21.4°F
Freeborn County5a-19°F
Goodhue County4b-22°F
Grant County4b-24.5°F
Hennepin County5a-19.3°F
Houston County5a-19°F
Hubbard County3b-31°F
Isanti County4b-23.7°F
Itasca County3b-32°F
Jackson County5a-19.7°F
Kanabec County4a-25.9°F
Kandiyohi County4b-22.7°F
Kittson County3b-31.4°F
Koochiching County3b-34.6°F
Lac qui Parle County4b-21.3°F
Lake County4a-29.8°F
Lake of the Woods County3b-33.8°F
Le Sueur County4b-20.1°F
Lincoln County4b-21°F
Lyon County5a-19.2°F
Mahnomen County4a-29.4°F
Marshall County3b-30.6°F
Martin County5a-18.1°F
McLeod County4b-21.3°F
Meeker County4b-22°F
Mille Lacs County4a-26.2°F
Morrison County4a-25.9°F
Mower County4b-20.3°F
Murray County5a-18.8°F
Nicollet County5a-20°F
Nobles County5a-19.5°F
Norman County4a-28.6°F
Olmsted County4b-20.9°F
Otter Tail County4a-27.3°F
Pennington County3b-30.4°F
Pine County4a-26.4°F
Pipestone County4b-21°F
Polk County4a-29.3°F
Pope County4b-23.6°F
Ramsey County5a-18.7°F
Red Lake County3b-30.5°F
Redwood County4b-20.2°F
Renville County4b-21.6°F
Rice County4b-20.9°F
Rock County5a-19.8°F
Roseau County3b-33.4°F
Saint Louis County3b-32.6°F
Scott County4b-20.4°F
Sherburne County4b-23°F
Sibley County4b-20.1°F
Stearns County4b-24.2°F
Steele County4b-20.8°F
Stevens County4b-23.3°F
Swift County4b-22.8°F
Todd County4a-26.3°F
Traverse County4b-23.5°F
Wabasha County4b-23.4°F
Wadena County4a-28.6°F
Waseca County4b-20.5°F
Washington County5a-19.9°F
Watonwan County5a-18.5°F
Wilkin County4a-25.9°F
Winona County4b-20.2°F
Wright County4b-21.5°F
Yellow Medicine County4b-20.1°F

The zones

A plant hardiness zone is set by the average of each winter’s single coldest temperature, 1991 to 2020: zones are 10°F apart and each half zone, a and b, 5°F. It says how cold a winter night usually gets, not the coldest it has ever been, and nothing about summer heat, rain or soil. Plant labels give the coldest zone a perennial survives in.

ZoneAverage coldest nightIn Celsius
3a-40 to -35°F-40.0 to -37.2°C
3b-35 to -30°F-37.2 to -34.4°C
4a-30 to -25°F-34.4 to -31.7°C
4b-25 to -20°F-31.7 to -28.9°C
5a-20 to -15°F-28.9 to -26.1°C

Sources

Hardiness zones: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, 2023, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, from the GIS data of the PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, which may be freely reproduced and redistributed. Drawn by WeatherOverTime from the USDA-ARS and Oregon State University PRISM Climate Group 2023 GIS data; this is not the official USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.