Fruit Trees for Jordan, Montana and the Big Dry

On February 14, 1936, Jordan's town station read −58°F. The old Haxby station, about 20 miles northeast toward the Missouri Breaks, read −39°F that same morning. In a typical year those two stations' coldest nights came within about 2°F of each other, so a 19°F gap is the mark of a cold pool: on a still, clear night cold air settles on the creek floor, right where town sits. That's the first thing to know about fruit trees for Jordan, Montana and the Big Dry.

This map covers the Big Dry Creek country of Garfield County (the Big Open, or Jordan Country): Jordan and its airport, Cohagen on MT 59, Steve Forks up the creek and Brusett to the northwest, Sand Springs and Edwards on the divide along MT 200, the lower Big Dry, and the Breaks north to Fort Peck Lake. Type your address in the box on the map to get the number for your own place, and the list of what we sell that has come through it.

How to read this map

The number at every spot is a 30-year planning low, the same number our cold hardiness calculator gives, built from NOAA station records since the 1995-96 winter and adjusted for the lay of the land. It leans cold on purpose, a safe number to plan around and not the record. You also get the MFTC zone (that number in half zones), the typical winter (an average year's coldest night, the kind of number USDA's map is built on) and a spring layer showing how much warmer or colder a spot runs than Jordan on a still, clear night at bloom.

Jordan is the reference, and it's about as cold as this map gets: −49°F (MFTC zone 2a), with a typical winter of −31°F. The middle of the growing ground plans for −44°F (zone 2b). The coldest twentieth, −48°F or colder, is mostly the Big Dry Creek floor and the low flats along it, from about 14 miles west of town (airport included) to about 14 miles east, and Cohagen is nearly as cold at −48°F. The warm end is the high west side: Brusett −42°F, Sand Springs −40°F, and the warmest twentieth −37°F or milder along the west edge and the breaks above the lake. Jordan sits so low that most of the spring layer reads as plus numbers.

Why the map looks the way it does

This country tilts down to the northeast, from about 3,050 ft on average in the southwest quarter of the map to about 2,630 ft in the northeast, and most of it drains to Big Dry Creek. The creek comes in from the west (about 2,835 ft near Steve Forks), passes Jordan at about 2,600 ft, runs east to about 2,400 ft, then turns north toward the Big Dry Arm of Fort Peck Lake.

On a clear, calm night the ground loses its heat to the sky and the air lying on it turns cold and heavy. Some drains off the divide and down the side creeks, but most of a cold pool is made in place as the floor itself cools. The Big Dry is built to hold it: wide and shallow, with hills only 150 to 250 ft above the creek around Jordan and a fall of about 10 ft per mile, so the cold has nowhere fast to go. Researchers have found a wide, shallow basin can pool harder than a deep valley that drains, and dry air like this (about 13.45 inches of precipitation a year) cools faster.

The valley stations agree. Jordan's town station, the airport, Cohagen and Haxby came within about 2°F of each other in a typical year's coldest reading. On December 22, 1989, Jordan, Cohagen and an old station in the lower Big Dry all read −46°F, while South Sawmill Creek, a fire-weather station at 3,290 ft in the CMR breaks 33 miles northwest of town, read −25°F. That station's average yearly low is −19°F against −32°F at the Jordan airport, and in the year's coldest reading it runs a median 13°F to 15°F milder than the airport and Cohagen. We haven't confirmed exactly where it sits, but it reads like a site above the valley inversions, and the map's west edge leans on it: high ground out there, 120 to 550 ft above the nearest draws, plans for −34°F to −39°F.

Not every high place is warm, though. The old Snowbelt station, at 3,300 ft on the south divide, averaged a −31°F yearly low from 1915 to 1933, about what the valley stations average (a different era, so not a clean comparison). Flat upland can make its own cold. Height above the nearest low ground matters more than height above sea level.

Arctic air sets the depth. Most of Montana's winter cold waves stay northeast of a line from Glacier Park to Miles City, and Jordan is on the cold side. While arctic air pours in on a wind there's no inversion and high ground has no edge, and in the deepest outbreaks the gap shrinks: on January 13, 2024, the airport hit −43°F and South Sawmill Creek −35°F, only 8°F apart. Wind mixes the pool out too (orchard inversions usually hold only while it stays under 3 to 5 mph, Washington State's tree fruit people say), and the Jordan airport has measured a 79 mph gust. Snow is thin (in March 2023 most of the county had little or none on the ground), so the floor often gets the cold without the blanket over the roots. Chinooks reach out here too: the airport hit 78°F on December 1, 2021, tying Montana's December record. Apple bark has lost about 27°F of hardiness in one warm day, and an arctic front behind a thaw is what kills trees. Town heat won't save you either; Jordan is too small for any documented heat island.

Jordan, the airport and the Big Dry Creek floor

Jordan sits on the Big Dry Creek floor at 2,602 ft, 0 ft above the local low, where MT 200 and MT 59 meet. Within 3 miles the ground runs only 2,555 to 2,854 ft, so the cold has a long, gentle way to drain out. The town station and the airport both sit on that floor.

Town plans for −49°F (MFTC zone 2a), with a typical winter of −31°F. Within 3 miles the floor runs a median −49°F and the benches −46°F. The airport is −49°F too, and about 1°F colder than town at bloom. Height helps: hillsides and benches 80 to 150 ft above the creek east of town plan for −44°F to −47°F and read 2°F to 10°F warmer than town on a still bloom night. In town, put your tenderest tree by a south or west wall and water the dry strip at its base.

On the floor, plant from the −50°F list. If you only plant one tree, make it Kerr or Trailman; Trailman and Rescue applecrabs have come through −60°F, colder than Jordan's record. Ed Schultz saw zero winter injury on Centennial applecrab at Gallatin Gateway after a winter that hit −47°F. For apples, Norda or Parkland; pears, Bolshaya; plums, Ptitsin #5; apricots, Debbie's Gold, on your highest ground, since apricots bloom first. On the benches (−46°F), Goodland and Haralson apples and Westcot apricot (all −45°F) are worth a try. Test your water first: Jordan's town water runs over the secondary limits for sodium and dissolved solids.

Cohagen and the southeast

Cohagen sits on MT 59, 23 miles southeast of Jordan, at 2,715 ft. The ground within 3 miles runs 2,649 to 2,989 ft, so the hamlet sits near the bottom of it, about 270 ft below the high ground around it, and the map reads it as valley floor, only 20 ft up, in the cold pool. The Lebo shale between Cohagen and Sand Creek often weathers to bare badlands, so look for loamy alluvium or sandier ground.

Cohagen plans for −48°F (zone 2a), with a typical winter of −31°F, and runs about 2°F warmer than Jordan at bloom. Its station holds a −46°F record (December 22, 1989) and averages a −33°F yearly low. It has the shortest frost-free season here: last 32°F a median May 24, first fall 32°F September 18, 114 days between, and one year in ten the last 32°F comes after June 10.

Plant it like Jordan: Kerr, Trailman and Centennial first, then Northern Blue plum, Krasnobokaya pear, Montana Black Currant (we've never seen winter damage on it) and Honeyberry. With 114 frost-free days, skip late apples and pears. Worth a try on the higher ground: Toka plum and Evan's Bali tart cherry (both −45°F). South toward the Yellowstone, the Miles City and Glendive map picks up.

Steve Forks, Brusett and the upper Big Dry

West of Jordan the Big Dry climbs gently toward its head. Steve Forks, 20 miles west of town at 2,859 ft, sits low on the upper Big Dry floor, which fits the name. It plans for −44°F (zone 2b), with a typical winter of −28°F, milder than Jordan because it's about 250 ft higher on the milder west side. But on a still bloom night it runs 3°F colder than Jordan, the coldest spring reading of any town or hamlet on the map. Low ground where side drainages come in collects the cold from all of them.

Brusett, 18 miles west-northwest of Jordan near where Brusett Road meets Edwards Road, sits up out of it at 2,909 ft, on a toe slope 60 ft above the floor. It plans for −42°F (zone 2b), with a typical winter of −26°F, and runs 3°F warmer than Jordan at bloom. The winter edge is mostly the higher, milder west side; the spring edge is the 60 ft and the drainage below you.

Around Brusett the −45°F group fits: Goodland, Haralson, Frostbite and Wolf River apples, Vekovaya pear, Toka plum, Westcot and Morden 604 apricots, and Evan's Bali. Worth a try at Brusett in a sheltered spot: Zestar! apple and Mount Royal plum (both −40°F), both survivors of MSU's Colstrip trial. Steve Forks takes the same list for winter, but put apricots and plums on the slopes above the fork and keep the floor for apples, honeyberry and currants.

Sand Springs, Edwards and the high divide along MT 200

The southwest corner is the high divide country the Big Dry drains from. Sand Springs, on MT 200 31 miles west-southwest of Jordan, is the highest settlement on the map at 3,173 ft, in high rolling country without much to drain toward. It plans for −40°F (zone 2b), with a typical winter of −23°F, the mildest of the named places. But on a still bloom night it reads the same as Jordan, because it sits only 10 ft above a broad local floor. The winter number is milder because the whole country sits about 570 ft above Jordan, nearer the mild stations to the west, not because your spot drains.

Edwards, 23.5 miles southwest of Jordan near Gumbo Flats, plans for −44°F (zone 2b) at 2,997 ft, with a typical winter of −27°F, and runs about 1°F warmer than Jordan at bloom. The name tells you about the ground: wet weather turns the roads to gumbo, a sticky mud, and clay flats like that drain poorly. The Chinook-Twilight fine sandy loams off the Fox Hills sandstone are about the friendliest tree soil in the county.

The old Snowbelt station near the south edge, which hit −42°F on January 31, 1917, is the caution flag I mentioned above. The map puts its site at −41°F (zone 2b), but on a flat up there, plan off the colder list. The slopes along the very south edge, 100 to 250 ft above the draws below them, are the best ground in this corner: −37°F to −39°F (zone 3a) at their best, and mostly 7°F to 11°F warmer than Jordan at bloom.

At Sand Springs and on those slopes, trees known to −40°F fit: Zestar! and Sweet Sixteen apples, Summercrisp and Luscious pears, Mount Royal plum, Meteor tart cherry, Sungold apricot and Red Lake currant. At Edwards, around Snowbelt and on any flat, go with the −45°F group.

The lower Big Dry, Haxby and the Breaks toward Fort Peck Lake

Below Jordan the Big Dry runs east to about 2,400 ft, the lowest ground on the map that isn't lake, then turns north toward the Big Dry Arm. The old station 23 miles east-northeast of town sat down here at 2,385 ft and was the coldest station on the map in its 11 years (1989 to 2000): a −36°F average yearly low, a median 2°F colder than Jordan, and −46°F on January 30, 1996 when Jordan and Cohagen read −40°F. The map reads that site at −47°F (zone 2a), and the creek near the east edge at −47°F and 4°F colder than Jordan at bloom. The map leans on stations with long records since 1995, and that one closed in 2000, so I'd plant the lower Big Dry as if it were at least as cold as Jordan.

The old Haxby station (1923 to 1990), about 20 miles northeast of Jordan, sat on what the map reads as a hillside 60 ft above the floor: −46°F (zone 2a), about 5°F warmer than Jordan at bloom. Its record is −44°F (1954 and 1969).

North of town the Missouri Breaks fall away toward the lake, cut by short, deep creeks (Hell, Devil's, Snow and Crooked creeks). This is the rough country of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (the CMR), with Hell Creek State Park about 20 miles north of town. The draws carry cold down to the water, and the steep slopes 340 to 550 ft above the bays toward the west end of the map are some of the mildest ground on it, −34°F to −38°F (zones 3a and 3b) and 10°F to 16°F warmer than Jordan at bloom. Down at the water near Hell Creek Bay it's −44°F to −46°F.

Don't count on Fort Peck Lake to warm the shore. It's Montana's biggest lake, but ice usually comes on between December and February and stays about 90 days, and lakes only shelter their shores while they're relatively free of ice. The map reads the shoreline as ordinary low ground. Across the lake, the Glasgow, Fort Peck and Wolf Point map covers you.

On the lower creek and the Haxby side, stay with the −50°F list: Dolgo crab, Chestnut applecrab, Bulgaria pear, Prairie Red plum and Nanking Cherry. In the breaks, fence everything: the CMR holds about 4,000 prairie elk, the largest prairie herd left in the US, plus deer and porcupines.

Spring frost and bloom on the Big Dry

NOAA's 1991 to 2020 medians put the last spring 32°F at the Jordan airport on May 20 and the last 28°F on May 12, with the first fall 32°F on September 20, for 121 frost-free days. One year in ten the last 32°F comes after June 7. South Sawmill Creek, up at 3,290 ft, shows what getting above the pool is worth: last 32°F May 8, last 28°F April 19, 142 frost-free days. That last 28°F comes more than three weeks before the valley's. We found no record of a spring freeze wiping out local fruit, and no published bloom dates here.

The 28°F nights are the ones that count. Open blossoms of apple, pear, cherry, peach, apricot and plum all start dying near 28°F (Michigan State's fruit people). A crop doesn't need every flower, though. Only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set (University of Minnesota), and unless the fruit is clustered (cherries, grapes), most fruit can lose half its blossoms with negligible effect. Fully open haskap flowers take 19°F, so honeyberry is the safest early bloomer on the floor.

The spring layer shows where to plant. Hillsides and benches 80 to 190 ft above the creek read 3°F to 11°F warmer than Jordan on a still bloom night, and the floor reads colder: the airport 1°F, Steve Forks 3°F, the creek near the east edge 4°F. NC State's fruit people say 3°F to 4°F can separate no crop from a full one. That layer is a still-night pattern, though. In a windy spring freeze the benches won't be warm.

Site is the main defense; the FAO's frost manual calls it the single most important method of frost protection. Plant on a slope (MSU likes an uphill 4 to 8 percent grade), but not on a windswept hilltop and not on the creek floor. Bob Purvis's rule is that an east-facing slope is ideal, and a north slope holds apricots and plums back. Keep the outlet open; a shelterbelt or fence line across the slope backs cold up into the trees above it. Through bloom, mow under 2 inches, don't till, and water a day or two before a frost. Frost cloth of 0.5, 0.9 and 1.5 oz per square yard gains about 4°F, 6°F and 8°F. Watch fall too: the first fall 28°F comes a median September 22 at Cohagen, and a freeze before trees harden off kills at temperatures a January tree shrugs off.

What the weather records say

Jordan's town station holds a −58°F record from February 14, 1936, in 68 years on file, and averages a −34°F yearly low. With a record high of 112°F, that's a 170°F spread. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals give a January mean minimum of 4.6°F and an average yearly low of −31.4°F.

Other NOAA station records: Cohagen −46°F (December 1989), the Jordan airport −43°F (January 14, 2024) and South Sawmill Creek −35°F (January 13, 2024).

USDA's 2023 map puts the Jordan (59337) and Cohagen (59322) ZIPs in zone 4a (−30°F to −25°F), and Brusett (59318) and Sand Springs (59077) in 4b (−25°F to −20°F). Ours puts Jordan and Cohagen in 2a and Brusett and Sand Springs in 2b, because USDA's is built on an average year's coldest night and ours on the bad night we plan for. Even Jordan's average yearly low, −31.4°F, runs colder than 4a.

What you can grow here

The nearest fruit trials are MSU's, 75 to 100 miles away. At Hinsdale to the north, every Frostbite, Ginger Gold and Zestar! apple lived, while all the pears died. At Colstrip to the south, Goodland, Sweet Sixteen and Zestar! apples and Mount Royal plum survived, though it never got colder than −12°F there during the trial. We haven't found any orchard history for the Big Dry; if an old homestead apple survives on your place, we'd like to hear about it.

The Big Dry floor and the lower creek, −46°F to −49°F (Jordan, Cohagen, the lower Big Dry, the Haxby side, the benches around Jordan). Plant from the −50°F list. Apples: Norda, Parkland, Mantet, September Ruby (−55°F). Applecrabs: Kerr, Trailman, Centennial, Chestnut, Rescue. Pears: Bolshaya, Bulgaria. Plums: Ptitsin #5, Northern Blue, Brookred. Cherries: Nanking Cherry, Juliet. Apricots: Debbie's Gold, Manchurian Apricot. Berries: Montana Black Currant, Honeyberry, Buffaloberry, Valiant grape. Minnesota's best survivors of the 1996 test winter, Rescue, Dolgo, Chestnut and Centennial among them, came from plots that saw −50°F to −55°F. Worth a try on the benches and against a south wall: Goodland, Haralson, Westcot and Evan's Bali (all −45°F).

Toe slopes and the western creeks, −42°F to −45°F (Brusett, Steve Forks, Edwards). Add the −45°F group: Goodland, Haralson, Frostbite and Wolf River apples, Vekovaya and Taylor Apple Pear, Toka plum (MSU's pick for best plum in Montana), Westcot and Morden 604 apricots, and Evan's Bali, good to at least −40°F to −45°F. Worth a try at Brusett: Zestar! and Mount Royal (−40°F).

The high divide and the breaks, −34°F to −41°F (Sand Springs, the Snowbelt country, the south-edge slopes, the high west edge). The −45°F group fits everywhere here. Where the map reads −40°F or milder, add Zestar!, Sweet Sixteen, Summercrisp, Luscious, Mount Royal, Meteor, Sungold and Red Lake. Worth a try on the high breaks slopes (−36°F and milder): Lapins and Gold sweet cherries (−35°F), the hardiest sweet cherries we've found.

Roots and shelter. MSU says use standard rootstocks east of the Divide, and the Bud series is hardy enough for most of central and eastern Montana. At Ed Schultz's farm, Bud 118 has seen near −50°F with no rootstock damage, but under snow, and roots are the weak link: dormant apple roots are seriously injured near 10°F while the wood above takes about −40°F. With thin snow, mulch the root zone and don't let the soil go into winter bone dry. MSU wants a windbreak as tall as the trees on windy sites. Leave a gap at its low end so it doesn't dam cold air into the trees.

Water and soil. This is the big one in Garfield County. Bedrock well water is often over 1,000 mg/L dissolved solids and generally unsuitable for irrigation; water from the alluvium or the Fox Hills sandstone is better. Test the water, and test the soil for pH and soluble salts before you plant, as MSU advises. The Garfield County Extension office is at 254 Leavitt Ave in Jordan, (406) 557-2770. Pick sandy loam or loamy alluvium over the Bearpaw and Lebo clays, and test drainage: dig 2 ft, fill it, let it drain, refill it, and under 10 hours is well drained. Water by drip only, and taper from mid-August so trees harden off.

Pests and the rest. Fence for deer and elk, and guard trunks against voles and rabbits. Paint trunks against sunscald with white interior latex diluted by half, in late autumn on a day above 50°F. Fire blight is Montana's most common fruit tree disease and codling moth its most common pest. Most plums and pears need a second variety to pollenize them, and the pollination maps show which pairs work.

Questions people ask

What hardiness zone is Jordan, Montana?

USDA's 2023 map puts the Jordan ZIP (59337) in zone 4a. Our map has Jordan planning for −49°F, MFTC zone 2a, and Sand Springs −40°F (2b). USDA's zone is based on an average winter, ours on the bad night we plan for.

When is the last frost in Jordan, Montana?

NOAA's 1991 to 2020 median last 32°F at the Jordan airport is May 20, and one year in ten it comes after June 7. The last 28°F, the night that starts killing open blossoms, comes a median May 12. The first fall frost comes around September 20, for about 121 frost-free days.

What fruit trees grow in Jordan, Montana?

On the Big Dry floor, plan for −49°F and plant varieties known to −50°F or colder, like Kerr and Trailman applecrabs, Norda apple and Montana Black Currant. Higher ground to the west, like Brusett (−42°F), takes the −45°F group, like Goodland apple and Toka plum.

Why is Jordan, Montana so cold?

It sits on the Big Dry Creek floor, a wide, shallow valley where cold air pools on still, clear nights. The town station hit −58°F on February 14, 1936, while the old Haxby station 20 miles northeast read −39°F.

Does Fort Peck Lake freeze over?

Usually, for about 90 days. Freeze-over has come as early as November 29 (1955) and as late as February 24 (2006), and ice-out from March 8 (2000) to May 9 (1950); it never fully froze in 1986-87 or 1991-92.

Is well water OK for watering fruit trees in Garfield County?

Often not. Bedrock well water here is often over 1,000 mg/L dissolved solids and generally unsuitable for irrigation, and Jordan's town water runs over the secondary limits for sodium. Water from the alluvium or the Fox Hills sandstone is better. Test before you plant, and water by drip.

Warmer spots, colder spots

Here's the number to plan for at named places on the map, warmest first. Each one is the 1-in-30-year low for that spot: the cold hardiness calculator's number from the same weather stations, sharpened by our microclimate model for the ground right there. Zone is our MFTC zone, set by that one bad night, not by an average.

The weather stations behind it

These are the long-record stations in and around this map, with each one's own numbers since the winter of 1995-96. The last column is this map's 30-year number right at the station, which won't match the station exactly: it's a blend of the stations around it, the way the calculator works everywhere.

Source: NOAA records through ACIS, winters 1995-96 through 2025-26. What the "carried forward," "gaps filled" and AWOS rows mean is explained in how our microclimate maps work.