Nebraska Plant Hardiness Zones
Nebraska’s towns run from zone 5a to zone 6a: the average coldest winter night is -7.8°F at Elmwood and -19.7°F at Rushville.
Hardiness zones in Nebraska
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.
- 4b
- 5a
- 5b
- 6a
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.
6a Zone 6a, -10 to -5°F 50 towns
- Adams-10°F
- Alma-8.8°F
- Aurora-10°F
- Beatrice-9.3°F
- Bennet-9°F
- Bennington-9.7°F
- Bertrand-9.8°F
- Chalco-8.8°F
- Clay Center-8.9°F
- Crete-9.2°F
- De Witt-9.2°F
- Deshler-8.2°F
- Dorchester-9.3°F
- Eagle-9.1°F
- Elkhorn-9.8°F
- Elmwood-7.8°F
- Exeter-9.8°F
- Fairbury-8.3°F
- Fairmont-9.9°F
- Falls City-8.4°F
- Firth-8.5°F
- Franklin-9°F
- Friend-9.8°F
- Geneva-8.5°F
- Gretna-9.8°F
- Harvard-9.9°F
- Hastings-9.4°F
- Hayes Center-9.5°F
- Hebron-8.1°F
- Henderson-10°F
- Hickman-8.6°F
- Hillsborough-9.4°F
- Holdrege-9.6°F
- Humboldt-9.3°F
- Juniata-9.8°F
- La Vista-8.9°F
- Lincoln-8.6°F
- McCook-9.7°F
- Milford-10°F
- Nebraska City-10°F
- Nelson-8.9°F
- Omaha-9.5°F
- Papillion-9.5°F
- Pawnee City-9.2°F
- Ralston-8.9°F
- Superior-8.2°F
- Trenton-10°F
- Waverly-10°F
- Wilber-9.2°F
- Wymore-9.1°F
5b Zone 5b, -15 to -10°F 110 towns
- Ainsworth-14.2°F
- Albion-14.5°F
- Alda-11.4°F
- Arapahoe-10.1°F
- Arlington-10.3°F
- Ashland-11.4°F
- Auburn-11°F
- Axtell-10.3°F
- Beaver City-11.1°F
- Beemer-15°F
- Bellevue-10.1°F
- Benkelman-10.9°F
- Blair-12°F
- Bloomfield-14.7°F
- Blue Hill-11.1°F
- Cairo-11.3°F
- Callaway-14.6°F
- Cambridge-11°F
- Cedar Bluffs-10.9°F
- Central City-10.7°F
- Ceresco-10.6°F
- Chappell-14.2°F
- Clarkson-13.8°F
- Columbus-12.4°F
- Cozad-12.3°F
- Culbertson-10.1°F
- Curtis-11.2°F
- David City-12.9°F
- Dodge-13.2°F
- Doniphan-10.1°F
- Elgin-14.3°F
- Elm Creek-10.5°F
- Elwood-10.7°F
- Fort Calhoun-10.7°F
- Fremont-10.4°F
- Fullerton-12.2°F
- Genoa-13.4°F
- Gibbon-11.2°F
- Gothenburg-12.5°F
- Grand Island-10.5°F
- Grant-11.8°F
- Greenwood-10.9°F
- Hartington-14.7°F
- Hemingford-13.5°F
- Hershey-11.9°F
- Hooper-12.3°F
- Howells-13.1°F
- Humphrey-14.1°F
- Imperial-11.5°F
- Indianola-10.4°F
- Kearney-10.5°F
- Kenesaw-10.6°F
- Lexington-11.5°F
- Louisville-11°F
- Loup City-14.2°F
- Lyons-14.7°F
- Madison-14.4°F
- Mead-11°F
- Minden-10.6°F
- Mullen-13.7°F
- Newman Grove-14.2°F
- North Bend-11.6°F
- North Platte-13.2°F
- O'Neill-14.4°F
- Oakland-13.7°F
- Offutt Air Force Base-10.4°F
- Ogallala-12.2°F
- Ord-14.9°F
- Osceola-11.9°F
- Overton-10.9°F
- Oxford-10.2°F
- Palmyra-10.2°F
- Paxton-12°F
- Peru-10.4°F
- Plainview-15°F
- Plattsmouth-11°F
- Randolph-15°F
- Ravenna-12.9°F
- Red Cloud-11°F
- Saint Edward-13.5°F
- Saint Paul-12°F
- Schuyler-12.7°F
- Scribner-12.5°F
- Seward-11.8°F
- Shelby-11.5°F
- Shelton-11.9°F
- Sidney-13.8°F
- Springfield-10.2°F
- Stapleton-14.9°F
- Stockville-10.9°F
- Stromsburg-11.6°F
- Sutherland-12.6°F
- Sutton-10.3°F
- Syracuse-12.2°F
- Tecumseh-12.2°F
- Tekamah-13.4°F
- Thedford-14°F
- Tryon-14.6°F
- Utica-10.9°F
- Valley-10.1°F
- Valparaiso-11.2°F
- Wahoo-10.8°F
- Waterloo-10.3°F
- Wauneta-11.2°F
- Wausa-14.8°F
- Weeping Water-11.6°F
- West Point-14.4°F
- Wood River-11°F
- York-11°F
- Yutan-10.4°F
5a Zone 5a, -20 to -15°F 58 towns
- Alliance-18.6°F
- Arnold-15.4°F
- Arthur-15.1°F
- Atkinson-15.2°F
- Bartlett-15.2°F
- Bassett-15.5°F
- Battle Creek-15.2°F
- Bayard-16.6°F
- Brewster-16.5°F
- Bridgeport-15.5°F
- Broken Bow-15.1°F
- Burwell-15.6°F
- Butte-15.9°F
- Center-16.8°F
- Chadron-17.3°F
- Crawford-17°F
- Creighton-15.6°F
- Crofton-16.1°F
- Dakota City-15.6°F
- Emerson-16°F
- Gering-16.7°F
- Gordon-17.6°F
- Greeley-15.1°F
- Harrisburg-16.1°F
- Harrison-18.7°F
- Hay Springs-18.1°F
- Homer-15.7°F
- Hyannis-15.9°F
- Kimball-15.1°F
- Laurel-15.9°F
- Macy-15.4°F
- Minatare-17.1°F
- Mitchell-16.8°F
- Morrill-17.7°F
- Neligh-16.5°F
- Norfolk-15.4°F
- Oshkosh-18.4°F
- Osmond-15.7°F
- Pender-16°F
- Pierce-15.6°F
- Ponca-16.2°F
- Rushville-19.7°F
- Sargent-15.4°F
- Scottsbluff-16.3°F
- South Sioux City-15.8°F
- Springview-16.1°F
- Stanton-15.6°F
- Stuart-15.5°F
- Taylor-15.9°F
- Terrytown-16.4°F
- Tilden-15.7°F
- Valentine-18.3°F
- Verdigre-16.9°F
- Wakefield-16.5°F
- Walthill-15.8°F
- Wayne-15.5°F
- Winnebago-15.8°F
- Wisner-15.6°F
Counties
At the county’s center; a county with hills or a coast spans several zones.
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.
| Zone | Average coldest night | In Celsius |
|---|---|---|
| 5a | -20 to -15°F | -28.9 to -26.1°C |
| 5b | -15 to -10°F | -26.1 to -23.3°C |
| 6a | -10 to -5°F | -23.3 to -20.6°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.