Fruit Trees for Newport, Usk, Cusick and the Pend Oreille Valley, Washington

On January 30, 1950, the NOAA station at Newport read −41°F, the coldest reading in its 91 years on file. In the same cold snap the Priest River Experimental Station, about 210 feet higher in the next valley east, bottomed at −33°F. Cold air that slides off the Selkirks on a still winter night ends up on the Pend Oreille floor, and that's the thing to plan around when you pick fruit trees for Newport, Usk, Cusick and the Pend Oreille Valley.

This map takes in the northeast corner of Washington in the Inland Northwest, from Newport and Oldtown, Idaho north along the river past Dalkena, Usk, Cusick and the Calispell Valley to Ruby, Blueslide and Lost Creek, plus the lake country southwest of Newport around Diamond Lake, on the Little Spokane side of the divide. Priest River, Idaho sits just off its east edge and Ione just off its north edge. 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

Every spot gets a 30-year planning low, the hard winter night a tree there has to be ready for. It's built the same way as our cold hardiness calculator, plus a small adjustment for the ground right around you, and it leans to the safe side, so use it to plan, not as a promise of how often that night shows up. Next to it you'll find the MFTC zone (the same number in half zones), the typical winter (an ordinary year's coldest night, closer to what USDA's zones are based on) and the spring reading, which says how many degrees warmer or colder that spot runs than downtown Newport on a clear, calm night at bloom.

Downtown Newport is the reference. It plans for −26°F (MFTC 4a, typical winter −6°F). That −26°F is colder than anything on file at the Newport station since the mid 1990s; the worst lately was −24°F in the January 13, 2024 cold snap. Half the growing ground on the map plans between −28°F and −25°F, and the middle of it is −26°F, so most of the valley is zone 4a. The cold end is the north half of the river, where Ruby and Blueslide plan for −29°F, and the coldest 5 percent of growing ground plans for −31°F or colder. The warm end is the mountain slopes well above the river, where the warmest 5 percent plans for −22°F or warmer.

Why the map looks the way it does

The Pend Oreille is an odd river. It leaves Lake Pend Oreille near Sandpoint, flows west past Priest River and Oldtown, enters Washington half a mile north of Newport, then turns north toward Canada. Through this whole map it's Box Canyon Reservoir, 55 miles of slow backwater behind a dam near Ione, and every river town (Oldtown, Newport, Usk, Cusick) sits within about 110 feet of the water. The Pend Oreille lobe of the ice sheet ended near Newport, and the Selkirks rise above the valley. On a clear, calm night the slopes lose heat, cold air slides down every draw, and it settles on the river flats, which plan for −27°F to −29°F from Dalkena north to Lost Creek.

The station records show the pooling. Newport's normals have cooler nights than Spokane's in both summer and winter but slightly warmer days, a wide daily swing that's the signature of a valley floor that collects cold at night. In each of the big cold snaps in the NOAA records from 1933 to 1978, the Newport station ran 1°F to 8°F colder than the Priest River station. In the three big ones since 2005 it ran 1°F to 3°F warmer. We haven't found a published reason for that switch, so take both stations as evidence of the process and the map as the number to plan by.

Above the flats is a thermal belt, a band of slope where cold air drains past instead of stopping and a warmer layer sits over the pool. The best measurements come from the Forest Service's Priest River Experimental Forest in the valley next door. There, slope minimums averaged 4°F to 5°F higher than on the flat, the warm belt sat around 3,500 feet, about 1,100 feet above the valley flat, and a clearcut about 80 feet below headquarters had only about 65 frost-free days, about a month fewer than headquarters. The map shows the same shape here. Gibraltar Rock, 660 feet above the floor north of Cusick, runs 13°F warmer than downtown Newport at bloom, and Skookum Peak, 1,100 feet up, plans for −25°F (4b) and runs 10°F warmer. Moon Hill, 1,660 feet up, plans for −22°F. Climb past the belt and it turns cold again: South Baldy and Cee Cee Ah Peak, above 5,300 feet, plan for −33°F (3b) and run 11°F to 12°F colder at bloom.

The pattern only holds on still nights, and on the deepest arctic mornings height doesn't always help. In the January 13, 2024 cold snap the Bunchgrass Meadow station at 5,000 feet read −39°F, Priest Lake (2,600 feet) −31°F, Flowery Trail and Priest River −25°F, and Newport, the lowest of them, −24°F. Over 18 shared winters the Priest Lake station has run a median 3°F colder than Flowery Trail at the same 2,600 feet, so where a station sits in its valley matters as much as how high it is.

The river itself is mostly open in winter. The Corps of Engineers' ice study found the reservoir usually carries only border ice growing out from the banks, with a full cover only in very cold spells, starting near Box Canyon Dam and sometimes reaching up to Newport, and a modeled average yearly peak of about 7 inches. Freezing fog settles on the valley floor in winter (NWS Spokane names Newport, Oldtown and Usk in its advisories), and fog over a valley can hold off a freeze for a while. But the river runs along the lowest ground in the valley, so the flats beside it are still the cold pool, and nobody should count on the water to save a tree. Snow does more. Newport averages about 53 inches of snowfall and a typical winter snow depth of about 11 inches, against about 3 at Spokane, and a steady snowpack keeps roots much warmer than the air over it.

Southwest of Newport the country drains the other way. About half a mile west of the river the ground drops into a shallow depression no more than 50 feet deep, and water there can't reach the Pend Oreille; it becomes the Little Spokane and runs southwest toward Spokane, and Diamond Lake drains into the same system. That low divide is where the coldest spring reading of any named place in the valley turns up, which we'll get to below.

Newport and Oldtown on the state line

Newport sits on the west bank of the Pend Oreille at 2,146 feet, 70 feet above the floor, on a toe slope at the edge of the cold pool. It plans for −26°F (4a) with a typical winter of −6°F. Oldtown, across the straight-line border in the Idaho Panhandle, is the same town for climate purposes: it plans for −26°F and runs about even with Newport at bloom. Inside 3 miles of downtown, the valley floor has a median planning low of −28°F, the benches and slopes 100 to 700 feet up have a median of −25°F, and the warmest tenth of the growing ground plans for −23°F. That 3°F or so between floor and bench is your best tool here, and on a bloom night the gap gets bigger.

The lower parts of Newport flooded in 1948, and low ground like that is frost ground too. A lot up on a slope, with the cold free to drain away below it, is where to put the early bloomers. The Newport station's median last spring frost is May 16 and its median first fall frost September 15, a 121-day season (1991 to 2020).

Downriver toward Usk the floor gets colder. Wolfred plans for −27°F with a spring reading 2°F colder than Newport's, and Dalkena plans for −28°F with one 1°F colder. Furport, on a steeper toe slope 40 feet above the floor where the cold slides past, plans for −27°F but runs 3°F warmer than Newport at bloom. If you're east of here around Priest River or Sandpoint, the Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry map covers you.

Usk, Cusick and the Calispell Valley

Usk and Cusick sit on the river at about 2,050 feet, the lowest towns on the map, with the Kalispel Reservation at Usk and the tribe's headquarters in Cusick. The Calispell Valley beside them is a natural open valley on the flood plain, settled early, where floods in 1894 and 1948 wrecked farms and homes. That's the classic cold-air setup: low, flat and open, with mountains above it. Usk plans for −28°F and runs 4°F colder than Newport at bloom, Cusick −28°F and 4°F colder, and Calispell −27°F and 5°F colder.

Around Cusick the valley floor has a median planning low of −28°F, the coldest tenth of the growing ground −29°F, and the benches 100 to 700 feet up a median of −25°F. So about 3°F of winter, and far more in spring, comes from getting off the flat. Gibraltar Rock north of town shows how much the spring side can swing, 13°F warmer than Newport at bloom. On the flats themselves, plant apples, haskap and bush fruit and leave the apricots and plums for the slopes.

Locke, Jared, Ruby, Blueslide and the north end

North of Cusick the floor stays right at reservoir level and the numbers get colder. Locke plans for −28°F and runs 3°F colder than Newport at bloom, Jared and Ruby −29°F and 2°F colder, Blueslide −29°F and 5°F colder, and Lost Creek −28°F and 3°F colder. Ruby, at −29°F, is the coldest of the valley towns. The site of Diamond City, up on a steep slope at 2,607 feet, still plans for −29°F but runs 2°F warmer at bloom. We haven't found a published explanation for why the north end runs colder than Newport, so read these as map numbers and plan for them. If you're west over the hills toward Chewelah, the Colville and Kettle Falls map covers you.

Diamond Lake, Penrith, Scotia and the Little Spokane country

Diamond Lake, a stop on the Selkirk Loop, is a natural lake of about 754 acres at 2,343 feet, about 7 miles southwest of Newport along US 2. People fish it through the ice in winter, so it freezes over and does nothing for the shore when it counts. The Diamond Lake community plans for −26°F, the same as Newport, and runs 3°F colder at bloom. Deer Valley, at 2,300 feet northwest of the lake, plans for −28°F but runs 2°F warmer at bloom.

The low ground between Newport and Diamond Lake is the surprise. Penrith, sitting right on its floor out there, has the coldest spring reading of any named place in the growing country on this map, 9°F colder than Newport at bloom, and Scotia, south of there, runs 5°F colder. Their winter numbers, −27°F for both, look ordinary. This is the kind of spot where a peach or apricot can bloom and lose it to a frost night that never touches the slope above, while a haskap, a currant or an apple comes through fine. If you're farther south down the Little Spokane toward Chattaroy, the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene map covers you.

The Idaho side: Four Corners and the Priest Lake country

North of Oldtown, the North Idaho side of the map rises toward the Priest Lake country. Four Corners, at 2,396 feet, plans for −28°F and runs 3°F colder than Newport at bloom. The Priest Lake station, at 2,600 feet on the Idaho side of the map, carries the lowest 30-year number among the stations inside the map, −33°F, colder than its own record of −31°F from January 13, 2024, and its median last spring frost doesn't come until June 6, leaving a 96-day season. The Priest River station just off the map's east edge, on its valley flat at 2,371 feet, has a median last frost of May 24 and a 111-day season, and it hit −36°F on December 30, 1968, in the same cold snap that gave Newport −37°F.

Spring frost and bloom in the Pend Oreille Valley

We haven't found any published bloom dates or spring freeze losses for this valley, so the station frost dates and the map's spring layer are the best guide. NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F at May 16 in Newport, May 24 at Priest River, May 25 at Flowery Trail (2,600 feet) and June 6 at Priest Lake. The last 28°F, the point where open blossoms of apple, pear, cherry, plum, peach and apricot start dying, comes May 2 at Newport and May 4 at Flowery Trail. One year in ten Newport's last 32°F comes after June 2, and Priest River's after June 20. The first 32°F in fall comes September 15 at Newport.

The spring layer shows where those dates run late. The Calispell and Usk flats run 4°F to 5°F colder than Newport at bloom, Blueslide 5°F colder and Penrith 9°F colder. The toe slopes and lower mountainsides run warmer: Furport 3°F, Skookum Peak 10°F and Gibraltar Rock 13°F. A few degrees decides it. An apple tree needs only about 15 percent of its blossoms to set a crop, open haskap flowers take 19°F, and Saskatoon bloom is hurt at 28°F or below. In our own hard bloom frost of spring 2026 in Montana, growers up on the benches fared much better than the ones low in the valley, and losing half the blossoms costs most fruit very little.

Give the apricots, peaches, sweet cherries and plums the slope, as high above the flat as you can garden, with the cold free to drain away below them. An east-facing slope warms fast on a frosty morning, and a north-facing one keeps early bloomers from opening too soon. Keep apples, haskap, currants and gooseberries for the lower ground, and keep pears off the frosty flats. Clear out brush or a fence line across the bottom of the slope, since that dams cold air uphill of it. Mow short through bloom, don't till then, and water a day or two before a frost night. On a 111 to 121 day season, late apples, pears and grapes may not ripen on the coldest flats (the University of Vermont treats under 135 frost-free days as short-season country), and Siberian C peach, which ripens very late, needs the warmest slope you have.

What the weather records say

Newport's coldest reading on file is −41°F on January 30, 1950. Its other big cold snaps run back through the record: −36°F in February 1933, −35°F in January 1935, −34°F in January 1937, −37°F around December 30, 1968 and −33°F around December 31, 1978. The Priest River station's record is −36°F from that December 1968 snap. Since 2005 the cold has been milder at the river towns, with −16°F to −24°F at Newport in the three biggest outbreaks, but the high stations still get hammered: Bunchgrass Meadow −39°F and Priest Lake −31°F on January 13, 2024, both records. The heavy snow is part of the story too; the winter of 1968 to 1969 collapsed the Newport airport hangar.

WSU Extension's Pend Oreille office calls Newport mostly zone 6A. That's an average-winter zone, and our typical winter for downtown, −6°F, fits it. Planned for the hard night, Newport is −26°F, MFTC 4a, and the valley floor north of Usk is −27°F to −29°F. Plan for the bad night.

What you can grow here

Each variety below has survived cold at or below the planning low of the ground it's listed for.

Benches and lower slopes, −25°F or warmer (the slopes above Newport and Oldtown, the hillsides above Cusick and Usk). Apples like Honeycrisp, Spartan, Liberty and Northern Spy; pears like Bartlett, D'Anjou and Luscious; Italian and Stanley plums; Lapins, Gold and Rainier sweet cherries; Harlayne and Montana Mango apricots; and Contender and Blushingstar peaches. Blushingstar came through −25°F at our place on January 13, 2024 without damage, the same cold snap that took Newport to −24°F. Tom McCamant grows Contender at Forbidden Fruit Orchard in Paradise, Montana, and it's the only commercial peach we know of that has taken −32°F.

The valley floor and river towns, −26°F to −29°F (Newport, Oldtown, Dalkena, Usk, Cusick, Calispell, Locke, Ruby, Blueslide). Here choose varieties rated −30°F or colder: Wolf River, Haralson, Cortland and Zestar!® apples; Kerr and Trailman applecrabs (if you only plant one tree, make it one of these); Superior and Toka plums, planted together, since Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior (our pollination maps show other pairs); Evan's Bali and Meteor tart cherries; and Westcot and Sungold apricots and Siberian C peach, with the plums, apricots and peach on the warmest rise you have. For the frosty flats themselves, Honeyberry, Montana Black Currant, Red Lake currant, Pixwell gooseberry and Serviceberry. We've never seen winter damage on Montana Black Currant, even in October snaps of −10°F to −20°F. Contender and Blushingstar clear the floor too; give them the best spot in the yard.

The coldest pockets, −30°F to −33°F (the coldest 5 percent of the growing ground, and the country around the Priest Lake station). Go with varieties rated −35°F or colder: Haralson, Goodland and Norland apples, Centennial applecrab (Ed Schultz saw no winter injury on it after a winter that hit −47°F), Brookred plum, Juliet dwarf cherry, Nanking Cherry and the bush fruit above. Keep pears, plums and apricots off ground this cold and frosty unless you have a real rise.

In a hard winter the roots go first, and snow is what saves them; at Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Bud 118 apple rootstock has seen near −50°F under snow with no root damage. This valley's snowpack is a real asset, so don't plant where the wind scours it off. The ground is glacial, outwash terraces and plains, till on the moraines and ash-influenced soils on the moist sites from 2,200 to 3,000 feet (NRCS's ecological site key for these valleys), so test drainage before you plant: dig 2 feet, fill it, let it drain, fill it again, and under 10 hours is well drained. Give trees at least 6 hours of direct sun, and 8 to 10 is better, which on a timbered north slope may mean opening up the trees. Taper water from mid-August so trees harden off before the first fall frost, which comes about September 15 at Newport; a hard snap in October, before a tree has hardened, is rougher on it than much colder weather in January.

Fruit history here

Settlers here took logging claims first and cleared stump farms after, and the stump farms turned into dairies; the county had 75 commercial dairies in 1944. Fruit came early too. In 1911 N. W. Durham described Newport's homes as set among lawns, gardens and orchards, and Charles Talmadge's Silver Birch Farm at Newport grew fruit and hops and raised Jersey cattle; a University of Idaho Library photo from about 1931 shows an apple tree there bearing apples. Today WSU Extension's Pend Oreille County Master Gardeners, around since 1973, keep a demonstration garden in Newport with berry bushes and held an "All Things Fruit Trees" class there in June 2023.

Questions people ask

What zone is Newport, Washington?

WSU Extension calls Newport mostly zone 6A, an average-winter zone, and our typical winter for downtown, −6°F, fits that. For the hard night we plan around, downtown Newport is −26°F, MFTC zone 4a, and the river flats from Usk north plan for −27°F to −29°F.

When is the last frost in Newport, WA?

The Newport station's median last 32°F is May 16 and its last 28°F is May 2 (1991 to 2020). In a late year, one in ten, the last 32°F doesn't come until after June 2. The median first fall frost is September 15, for a 121-day season. The Usk, Cusick and Calispell flats run 4°F to 5°F colder than Newport on a still bloom night.

Why is Newport colder than Spokane at night?

Newport sits on the floor of a mountain-walled river valley, and on clear, calm nights cold air drains off the slopes and pools there. Its normals show cooler nights than Spokane's in summer and winter with slightly warmer days, and it holds about 11 inches of snow on the ground in a typical winter against about 3 at Spokane.

Does the Pend Oreille River freeze at Newport?

Usually not all the way. The Corps of Engineers found the reservoir mostly carries border ice from the banks, and a full cover forms only in very cold spells, starting near Box Canyon Dam and sometimes reaching up to Newport, with ice averaging about 7 inches at its peak.

Can you grow apples and other fruit in Pend Oreille County?

Yes, and Newport had orchards by 1911. On the valley floor, which plans for −26°F to −29°F, pick varieties that have come through −30°F or colder, like Haralson, Wolf River, Cortland, Toka plum and Evan's Bali cherry, and put the earliest bloomers on the slopes above the river, where the spring frost runs lighter.

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.