Omaha, NE Frost Dates: Last Spring and First Fall Frost

The last spring frost in Omaha, NE comes on April 16 in a typical year, and the first fall frost follows on October 18, leaving a frost-free season of 183 days.

Because half of all years do worse than the typical date, the dates that matter for tender plants are the late spring date, May 6, and the early fall date, October 2, each of which one year in ten fails to beat. The median season across the 100 cities on these pages is 229 days; Omaha comes up 46 days short of it, 81st on the list.

These dates come from the NOAA weather station Omaha #1 (ID USW00094918), 6.5 miles north of the Census Bureau's internal point for Omaha, at about 1,300 feet above sea level.

When is the last frost in Omaha?

Frost is still possible on April 2 in nine springs out of ten and on April 16 in five; only one spring in ten sees a freeze as late as May 6.

Spring dates in Omaha spread over 34 days from the 90% date to the 10% date, close to the middle of the cities covered here.

When is the first frost in Omaha?

Expect the first freeze of fall by October 18 in a typical year. One year in ten brings it by October 2, and nine in ten have had it by October 29.

The early and late fall dates are only 27 days apart, a narrow band next to most cities here, so the first freeze keeps close to its schedule in Omaha.

Omaha's frost-free season

A little less room than the middle of these pages, so count the days before you choose a variety. A typical year gives 183 days; nine years in ten give at least 159 days, and one in ten reaches 203 days. The swing is 24 days between typical and short, about average for these pages.

The season lengths come from NOAA's simulated years, not from subtracting one typical date from the other, so the two will not match to the day. Every winter in the record reached freezing at Omaha #1, so the dates above describe a real yearly event, not a rare one.

28°F dates in Omaha

The two freezes sit close together here. The typical hard freeze reaches Omaha on October 26, 8 days after the first frost, and ends on April 5, 11 days ahead of the last. At the edges, a 28°F night on or after April 22 happens one spring in ten and one by October 13 one fall in ten; the nine-in-ten dates are March 23 and November 8.

What this means for planting in Omaha

University of New Hampshire Extension sorts vegetables by how they cope with cold. Cool-season crops go out before the last frost: counting from April 16, cabbage transplants go in on March 19 and lettuce from March 19 to March 26. Tender crops wait until it has passed, with peppers going out on April 30 and beans sown on or after April 16. The University of New Hampshire Extension sheet gives peas no frost count at all; sow them as soon as the soil thaws.

The late date comes 20 days after the typical one; choose it for plants you cannot cover.

Of the 34 crops in the fall planner, 25 still have a July-or-later last planting day in Omaha once NC State Extension's days to harvest and University of Georgia Extension's harvest allowance of 18 days are counted back from frost. The other 9 do not. Of the crops that fit, cabbage is the slowest: 93 days from planting to the early frost, which makes July 1 its last day.

Worked example: setting out tomatoes in Omaha

Take tomatoes in Omaha. The University of New Hampshire Extension rule is to set transplants out one to two weeks after the last frost. From April 16, the typical date, that means April 23 to April 30; from May 6, the late date, it means May 13 to May 20, a delay of 20 days.

Seeds start six to eight weeks before the set-out day, so counting back from the first day of the late window gives March 18 to April 1 for sowing indoors.

Between the last set-out day and the early first frost on October 2 lie 135 days. Tomatoes need 75 to 85 days by NC State Extension's count, so the schedule has 50 days of slack even in an early-frost year.

Where Omaha's numbers are measured

The station is 6.5 miles north of the Census Bureau's internal point for Omaha, several miles out, so look at the nearest-station list in the frost dates tool before you rely on it.

At about 1,300 feet, it ranks above 76 and below 23 of the 100 stations used for these pages. In NOAA's file the record is marked R, meaning representative.

The Census Gazetteer gives no elevation for Omaha itself, so this page cannot tell you whether your garden sits above or below the station. If it is noticeably higher or lower, compare the stations the frost dates tool lists nearby and lean toward the colder reading.

Omaha compared with nearby cities

Here is how Omaha, with a last frost on April 16 and a first frost on October 18, compares with the three nearest cities on these pages, the closest being Lincoln, NE at 45 miles.

• Lincoln, NE (45 miles, south-west): spring frost lingers 8 days longer than in Omaha, and it has 12 days less without frost. Its typical dates are April 24 and October 13, with 171 days frost-free.
• Des Moines, IA (128 miles, east): its last frost is nearly the same as Omaha's, and frost-free days differ from Omaha's by less than a week. Its typical dates are April 18 and October 20, with 184 days frost-free.
• Sioux Falls, SD, 161 miles to the north: last frost May 1, first frost October 6, 157 days frost-free; its last frost comes 15 days after Omaha's, and the season runs 26 days shorter.

Take these dates further

The frost dates tool opens on this station and lists every probability date, not just the ones above. From there, the spring planting planner and fall planting planner turn the dates into crop lists for Omaha, and the hardiness zone lookup answers what will overwinter.

Looking for another city? The city frost dates index lists every page, grouped by state.

Where these numbers come from

NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020 (doi:10.25921/4ek7-fk11) supply every frost date here, unchanged from the station's record, and NOAA's documentation defines the probabilities. The city and its internal point come from the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer of places, and the ranking by size from the Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 city and town population estimates, which put Omaha at 489,265 people.

The planting dates apply the count rules in University of New Hampshire Extension, NC State Extension and University of Georgia Extension to this station's dates, with nothing added. Our methodology describes the tests behind every number.

These dates describe odds over many years, not next week's weather. Look at the forecast before you plant, and keep a sheet or row cover ready for a night that does not follow the odds.