Fruit Trees for Scottsbluff, Gering and the North Platte Valley, Nebraska

In the cold snap that closed out 2014, the Scottsbluff airport station on the valley floor bottomed out at −28°F. The fire-weather station on the slopes of Scotts Bluff by the monument, 6 miles away and about 270 feet higher, bottomed out at −18°F. That 10°F gap is most of what you need to know about fruit trees for Scottsbluff, Gering and the North Platte Valley: on a clear, still night the cold slides off the bluffs and terraces and settles on the river bottom, and the steep ground just above it stays milder.

This map covers the North Platte across Scotts Bluff County in the Nebraska Panhandle, from Morrill near the Wyoming line past Mitchell, Scottsbluff, Terrytown and Gering to Minatare, Melbeta and McGrew. 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. Upriver across the state line, the Torrington and Wheatland map covers you.

How to read this map

Every spot gets a 30-year planning low, the same number our cold hardiness calculator uses. It's a safe planning number that leans a little cold, and it isn't the record. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones. The typical winter is an average year's coldest night, and the spring layer shows how much warmer or colder a still, clear night at bloom runs than downtown Scottsbluff.

The middle of the growing ground plans for −30°F (3b by half a degree), and half of it falls between −32°F and −29°F. Downtown Scottsbluff, our reference point, also plans for −30°F, landing in 4a by a few tenths, with a typical winter low of −16°F. Gering plans for −29°F (4a). The warm end is the steep ground: the slopes by the monument and Bead Mountain south of Gering plan for −26°F, South Gate by Lake Minatare −27°F. The cold end is the north-side flats and the upper valley: Mintle plans for −34°F, and Joyce and South Morrill toward the Wyoming line −33°F.

Why the map looks the way it does

The North Platte runs east-southeast between Scottsbluff and Gering as a shallow, braided river on a flood plain about a mile wide, in an inner valley 5 to 8 miles across that holds every town on this map. On the south side Scotts Bluff stands nearly 800 feet over the river, and the Wildcat Hills behind it rise 490 to 980 feet above the land around them, buttes and canyons under ponderosa pine. The north side is a staircase: the USGS mapped nine terrace levels stepping down roughly 1,000 feet from the uplands to the river. On a clear, calm night cold air slides off all of it, down Winter Canyon and the north-side creeks and the canyons off Wildcat Ridge, collects on the flood plain and creeps down the valley. No one has measured the flows here; that's how the terrain reads.

NOAA station records back it up. Over the 23 years they share, the airport station (3,957 feet, on the floor east of town) has run a median 6°F colder on the year's coldest night than the bluff station at 4,224 feet. The station a mile east of Scottsbluff near the river runs 4°F colder than the bluff station, and the airport runs 3°F colder than the station on the Lake Minatare dam. Research elsewhere finds the same. A Hungarian study of 69 clear, calm nights found a valley floor averaging 6.7°F colder than a slope 230 feet higher, and a National Weather Service study at North Platte, about 200 miles downriver, found a site 300 feet above the valley 5°F to 7°F warmer on winter nights than the valley-floor airport.

The warm ground is the thermal belt, the milder layer riding on top of the cold pool, and here it hugs the steep south side. The slope where the bluff station sits, about 290 feet above the floor on a 13 percent grade, plans for −26°F; The Wildcat Estates, 350 feet up a steep hillside south of Gering, plans for −28°F. Steep ground sheds its cold fast and reaches up into the warm layer. The north-side terraces are broad, gentle steps, with old, undissected lowlands (the 1946 USGS report's term), and flat ground no creek has cut drains its cold slowly. Within 3 miles of Gering the bench ground has a median of −27°F, while within 3 miles of Fairway Estates on the north side it's −30°F.

Height above the nearest low ground counts for more than elevation. Bead Mountain (4,610 feet) and Signal Butte (4,580 feet) top out within 30 feet of each other, but the map puts Bead Mountain's slopes about 530 feet above their local floor, planning for −26°F, and Signal Butte's about 260 feet up, planning for −29°F. Higher isn't warmer by itself: the Harrisburg station, at 4,550 feet on the high ground south of Wildcat Ridge just off the map, holds the area's coldest reading on file (−44°F on December 22, 1989). The valley also gets colder upstream as its floor rises: Minatare, Melbeta and McGrew, the lowest towns at 3,782 to 3,824 feet, plan for −30°F to −31°F, while Mitchell and Morrill, 120 to 200 feet higher, plan for −32°F. The Mitchell 5E station on the north-side flats runs a median 4°F colder than Minatare Dam, so the lowest ground isn't automatically the coldest.

None of this holds on every cold night. When deep arctic air pours in behind a front there's no inversion to stand above, and the valley goes cold together: in the January 1930 outbreak the Minatare Dam station read −33°F, the same as the airport, and in February 1936 it read −32°F to the airport's −29°F. Orchard inversions usually hold only while the wind stays under 3 to 5 mph, Washington State's fruit people say, and this is windy country, with cold northwest winds from fall into spring and chinooks that sometimes push winter afternoons above 50°F.

Water does less than people expect. Lake Minatare is an off-channel irrigation reservoir, drawn down hard after the season and frozen for ice fishing in winter, so it isn't warming its shore in January; the dam station's milder lows most likely come from its raised spot. What water has done is wet the bottoms. Canal and field seepage raised the water table, in places probably 50 feet or more, and the flood plain grows cattails and wild hay on poorly drained soils. Low, grassy, wet ground runs cold on a clear night. Town heat is modest: downtown Scottsbluff and Gering each plan about 1°F warmer than the floor around them.

Scottsbluff, Terrytown and the river bottom

Scottsbluff was platted in 1899 on the north side of the river, across from the bluff, and it sits right on the floor: downtown is about 3,880 feet, only 10 feet above the local low ground. It plans for −30°F (4a), typical winter −16°F. Within 3 miles the floor has a median of −31°F, the benches −27°F.

Terrytown, founded in 1949 on the bank of the North Platte between the two cities, is the river bottom proper and colder than either one: −31°F (3b), typical −17°F, about 1°F colder than downtown on a bloom night. Sunrise Village Mobile Home Park plans for −30°F, and the station a mile east of town has bottomed out at −26°F (at the turn of 2015) in its 19 years. Hillerage, near the airport at 3,865 feet, plans for −31°F and reads 3°F colder than downtown at bloom. For a Scottsbluff yard, Haralson (−45°F), Zestar!® (−40°F) and Spartan (−45°F), all rated by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) for its toughest region, clear the number with room. Save the apricots for a slope.

Gering, Scotts Bluff and the Wildcat Hills

Gering sits south of the river at the foot of the bluff, about 40 feet above its local floor at 3,918 feet. It plans for −29°F (4a), typical −15°F, even with downtown Scottsbluff at bloom. Within 3 miles the floor runs −30°F and the benches −27°F, and the warmest tenth of the growing ground plans for −27°F, the warmest of any town here. That's the bluff's thermal belt, and lots rising toward the monument and Mitchell Pass climb into it fast.

The slope by the monument where the fire-weather station sits plans for −26°F, typical −13°F, and reads 11°F warmer than downtown Scottsbluff at bloom. Northfield Park Arboretum, in what used to be a long, narrow canyon, plans for −29°F but reads 3°F colder than downtown at bloom. A canyon bottom is a chute for cold air on a still night, and Cedar and Carter canyons farther out toward the Wildcat Hills probably work the same way. On the river bottom, Evergreen Estates Mobile Homes plans for −30°F and reads 2°F colder at bloom.

The Wildcat Estates sits at 4,482 feet on a steep hillside about 350 feet above the floor: −28°F (4a), typical −14°F, and 13°F warmer than downtown on a bloom night. Dense pines or brush below a planting dam the cold that would drain past it, so leave the low side open. Gering's bench lots and the bluff slopes are the best ground in the valley for early bloomers: Westcot apricot (−45°F), Lapins sweet cherry (−35°F) and Contender peach (−30°F) all clear the planning low there, and the warm spring readings give their blossoms a chance.

North Scottsbluff: Fairway Estates, Mintle and the terraces

Fairway Estates, on a 4 percent toe slope about 60 feet above the floor, plans for −30°F (4a) and reads about 1°F warmer than downtown at bloom. Northside Mobile Home Ranch, 20 feet up, plans for −30°F (3b by a few tenths) and reads 1°F colder. Climbing the terraces on this side doesn't buy much, and out on the flats it gets colder: Heldt, Covert and James −31°F, Trout −32°F, and Mintle −34°F at 4,041 feet, the coldest named spot on the map. The Mitchell 5E station on these flats has a record of −41°F (December 21, 1989).

Winter Creek comes out of Winter Canyon about 2 miles northeast of Scottsbluff. Creek bottoms like that carry cold air down at night, so plant on the terrace shoulders beside them. Out here pick from what clears −34°F, like Kindercrisp (−50°F), Kerr applecrab (−50°F) and Evan's Bali tart cherry (−45°F). Bloom nights run 2°F to 3°F colder than downtown on most of the flats, so early bloomers are a gamble.

Minatare, Lake Minatare and the lower valley

Minatare, first named Tabor, moved to meet the railroad in 1900. It sits on the floor at 3,824 feet and plans for −30°F (3b by less than half a degree), typical −16°F, about 2°F colder than downtown Scottsbluff at bloom. Melbeta, on the river bottom, and McGrew, the lowest town on the map at 3,782 feet, both plan for −31°F and read about 2°F colder at bloom, with bench ground nearby at a median of −28°F. South of Melbeta, Roundtop tops out at 4,449 feet, and its slopes about 510 feet above the floor plan for −27°F and read 15°F warmer than downtown at bloom.

Lake Minatare sits up on the terraces about 6 miles north of Minatare, its full pool at 4,125 feet, roughly 240 feet above downtown Scottsbluff. South Gate, on a 7 percent hillside about 90 feet above its local low ground, plans for −27°F (4a), typical −11°F, and reads 6°F warmer than downtown at bloom. Villa Acres, also about 90 feet up, plans for −28°F and reads 3°F warmer. In the 2014 cold snap the dam station held −19°F while the airport read −28°F. The North Platte Valley Boat Club, only about 50 feet above its low ground, plans for −30°F: your slope matters more than how close you are to the lake.

On the lower valley floor, Superior plum (−35°F) with Toka (−45°F) as its pollenizer fits; UNL rates both for its toughest region. Our pollination maps show which trees pollenize which. Italian (−35°F) did really well on the higher parts of the Missoula valley floor near my house, and UNL favors European plums like it over Japanese types, which are prone to spring frost.

Mitchell, Morrill and the upper valley

Mitchell was platted as Sunflower in 1900 and renamed for old Fort Mitchell. It sits on the floor at 3,947 feet and plans for −32°F (3b), typical −18°F, about 1°F colder than downtown Scottsbluff at bloom. There's almost no bench ground within 3 miles, so the spread is narrow, −31°F to −33°F. The warm ground is up the slopes: Hubbard Corner, on a bench about 220 feet above the floor south of the river, plans for −28°F (4a) and reads 10°F warmer than downtown at bloom, and the slopes of Bald Peak west of Mitchell plan for −28°F too.

Morrill, platted in 1906 after the older town of Collins moved a mile south to meet the railroad, plans for −32°F (3b), typical −17°F, with the floor around it at −33°F and even the bench ground at −31°F. The river bottoms are the coldest ground in the upper valley. South Morrill and Joyce plan for −33°F, and Joyce reads 5°F colder than downtown Scottsbluff at bloom, the coldest spring reading of any named spot. Scoville, Roach and Doyle north of town also plan for −33°F. Up here Centennial applecrab (−50°F) is a good anchor; Ed Schultz saw zero winter injury on it after a −47°F winter in Gallatin Gateway, Montana. Save early bloomers for a bench like Hubbard Corner.

Spring frost and bloom in the North Platte Valley

NOAA frost dates for 1991 to 2020 follow the winter pattern. At the airport the median last 32°F of spring comes May 10 and the last 28°F May 2, the first fall 32°F comes October 3, and the frost-free season runs 140 days; one spring in ten the last 32°F comes as late as May 23. At the bluff station the last 32°F comes May 8, about the same, but the last 28°F comes April 19, nearly two weeks earlier, and the season runs 155 days. The hard frosts that kill open blossoms quit sooner on the slope. At Harrisburg, south of Wildcat Ridge, the last 32°F is May 28 and the season just 109 days.

The map's spring layer follows the same drainage, only sharper. On a still, clear night at bloom the bottoms toward the Wyoming line run 3°F to 5°F colder than downtown Scottsbluff and most floor hamlets 2°F to 3°F colder, while South Gate runs 6°F warmer, Hubbard Corner 10°F and The Wildcat Estates 13°F. In a windy freeze the warm slopes lose that edge.

Open blossoms of nearly every tree fruit start dying at about 28°F, Michigan State's fruit people say. UNL lists Sungold apricot as blooming mid to late April across Nebraska and calls apricots the state's most frost-susceptible tree fruit, and the floor's median last 28°F isn't until May 2. Apples bloom later and forgive a lot: only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop, according to the University of Minnesota. Fully open haskap flowers take 19°F. Unless the fruit is clustered, like cherries and grapes, most fruit can lose half its blossoms and you barely notice.

This spring showed the setup. Scotts Bluff County had freezing lows on April 17 and 18, 2026, after an unusually warm February and March pushed trees to leaf out early and flowers ahead of schedule. In Montana's bloom frost that same spring, growers low in the Missoula valley got hit hard while those higher up and on the benches fared much better.

The FAO's frost manual calls site "the single most important method of frost protection," and here that means the slopes. Put apricots, peaches and sweet cherries on the highest, steepest ground you have, and keep apples, tart cherries, European plums, currants and haskap for the floor. UNL warns that south-facing slopes can warm trees too early and invite early bloom. Bob Purvis's rule is an east-facing slope, and Montana State recommends an uphill site on a 4 to 8 percent grade. Don't dam the cold with a hedge or windbreak across the low end, and through bloom mow the orchard floor under 2 inches and water a day or two before a frost night.

What the weather records say

The coldest reading on file in the valley is −42°F at the airport on December 22, 1989, an outbreak that took Mitchell 5E to −41°F and Harrisburg to −44°F. Some climate tables list a colder reading from February 1899, but the NOAA station record tops out at −42°F, so sources differ. Other big outbreaks: January 1930 (Mitchell 5E −37°F), February 1936 (Mitchell 5E −35°F) and January 1963 (Mitchell 5E −35°F, the airport −32°F). Over its whole record the airport's average yearly low is −19°F. UNL's Panhandle center notes that frost cracks on thin-barked trees usually form at or below −20°F, especially after a warm spell.

Since the 1995-96 winter the coldest the airport has read is −29°F (January 2004), while its own 30-year number is −32°F; the planning number runs colder than anything since, on purpose, and the station has seen −42°F before. Timing matters too: the Armistice Day freeze of November 11, 1940 destroyed many of Nebraska's orchards, and a November freeze kills at temperatures a January tree shrugs off. Published zone lists give Scottsbluff USDA zone 5a (one gardening guide says 4b to 5a). USDA's map is built on the average winter's coldest night, and NOAA records show the worst night in about 30 winters runs a median 13°F below a station's average winter low, which is why our zones here (4a and 3b) read a full zone or more colder.

What you can grow around Scottsbluff and Gering

Every variety named has come through the planning low of its band or colder, except the few marked worth a try.

Bluff slopes, Gering's benches, the Wildcat Hills and the Lake Minatare slopes: −26°F to −29°F

This is where early bloomers belong. Apricots Westcot and Morden 604 (−45°F) and Sungold (−40°F). Sweet cherries Lapins and Gold (−35°F), the hardiest we've found (a Cowley, Wyoming grower saw no damage on Lapins at −33°F), and Rainier (−30°F). Peaches Siberian C (−35°F), the hardiest we think are out there, very late ripening, and Contender (−30°F); Blushingstar (−25°F) is worth a try on the warmest slopes that plan for −26°F to −27°F. Harrow Sweet pear (−30°F) fits too.

The valley floor through Scottsbluff, Gering, Terrytown, Minatare, Melbeta and McGrew: −29°F to −31°F

Apples Haralson, Spartan (−45°F), Zestar!® (−40°F) and Empire (−35°F). Applecrabs Kerr (−50°F) and Trailman (−60°F); if you only plant one tree, make it one of these. Pears Luscious and Summercrisp (−40°F). Plums Superior with Toka and Mount Royal (−40°F). Tart cherries Meteor (−40°F) and Evan's Bali (−45°F), and the dwarf cherries Juliet and Romeo (−50°F). Enterprise, Liberty and Montmorency (−30°F) are worth a try on the floor's warmer lots and fit the slopes outright.

The upper valley and the north-side flats (Mitchell, Morrill, Mintle, the Wyoming-line bottoms): −32°F to −34°F

Apples Wealthy and Kindercrisp (−50°F), Honeycrisp and Haralson (−45°F). Applecrabs Centennial and Chestnut (−50°F). Pears Ure (−40°F) and Bolshaya (−50°F). Plums Brookred (−50°F) and Toka. Tart cherries Evan's Bali and Meteor, plus Nanking Cherry (−50°F). Superior, Empire and Lapins (−35°F) clear −34°F by a degree, so give them your best spot.

Berries and vines, anywhere on the map

Honeyberry (−50°F), Montana Black Currant (−50°F; we've never seen winter damage on it, October snaps of −10°F to −20°F included), Red Lake currant and Pixwell gooseberry (−40°F), Buffaloberry (−50°F) and Trader Mulberry (−40°F). For grapes, Valiant (−50°F) and Frontenac (−35°F) both made more than 10 pounds a plant in UNL's Scottsbluff trial.

Roots, soil and the local problems

Roots are the weak link: dormant apple roots are seriously hurt near 10°F while the wood above takes about −40°F, and snow protects them. At Ed Schultz's, Bud 118 rootstock has seen near −50°F under snow with no damage. Wind strips snow off open ground, so mulch the root zone and hold snow with a windbreak that won't dam cold air. UNL advises against pears on dwarfing quince because of fire blight and winter injury.

High pH is the big soil problem. Terrace soils like Tripp carry free lime from 18 to 40 inches down, and UNL's grape trial ran into high-pH nutrient deficiencies, so soil test to 12 inches before you plant. Where seepage keeps the flood plain wet, the soils are poorly drained and alkaline; dig the test hole (2 feet down, fill it, let it drain, refill it: under 10 hours is well drained) and skip the cattail ground. Drip is the only irrigation we advise for fruit trees in dry country, and taper water from mid-August so the trees harden off. Expect wind and winter drying (UNL calls wind desiccation a major cause of winter injury in cold, dry areas), summer hail, birds on cherries and peach tree borers, though the dry air keeps disease low.

Fruit history here

This valley was built on irrigation, not orchards. The first irrigation in the county was small grain along Winter Creek Run, put in by George Bouton and Ben Gentry in the mid-1880s, and by 1930 about half the county's farm acreage was irrigated, mostly with North Platte water. Sugar beets, corn and beans are the main crops. Nebraska's orchards were in the southeast around Nemaha County, and we found no Panhandle orchard district. The fruit work is recent: UNL's Panhandle Research and Extension Center ran a grape trial at Scottsbluff from 2001, where Frontenac, Valiant and four others each averaged more than 10 pounds a plant from 2003 to 2009, and Papa Moon Vineyards planted grapes in 2007.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Scottsbluff, Nebraska?

Downtown Scottsbluff plans for −30°F, MFTC zone 4a by a few tenths, and most of the valley floor around it is 3b. Gering plans for −29°F (4a), Mitchell and Morrill −32°F (3b). Published zone lists give Scottsbluff USDA zone 5a. USDA's map is based on an average winter's coldest night, ours on the bad night we plan for.

When is the last frost in Scottsbluff?

NOAA records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F at the airport on May 10 and the last 28°F on May 2, and one year in ten the last 32°F comes as late as May 23. On the bluff slopes by the monument the last 28°F comes about April 19.

What fruit trees grow in Scottsbluff and Gering?

On the valley floor (−30°F to −31°F), Haralson and Zestar!® apples, Kerr applecrab, Superior plum with Toka as its pollenizer, Meteor tart cherry and Luscious pear all clear the planning low. On Gering's bench lots and the bluff slopes (−26°F to −29°F), add apricots, Lapins sweet cherry and Contender peach.

Can you grow peaches in western Nebraska?

Yes, on the right ground. UNL says peaches only in very protected sites, on seedling rather than dwarfing stock. Siberian C has come through −35°F and Contender −30°F, so both clear the planning low on the bluff slopes and Gering's benches, where spring nights also run warmer.

Can you grow grapes in Scottsbluff?

Yes. UNL's Scottsbluff trial got more than 10 pounds a plant from Frontenac and Valiant, among others. Overwintering and spring freezes were the main problems, so pick hardy kinds (Valiant has come through −50°F, Frontenac −35°F) and plant them off the valley floor if you can.

Why is the valley colder than the bluff at night?

On clear, calm nights cold air drains off the bluffs, the Wildcat Hills and the terraces and pools on the river bottom, with milder air above it. NOAA records show the airport's coldest night of the year running a median 6°F colder than the station on the bluff slopes. On windy nights and in deep arctic outbreaks the gap shrinks.

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.