Location of Lac Ste. Anne County in Alberta — Lac Ste. Anne County within Alberta

Hardiness Zone in Lac Ste. Anne County

Lac Ste. Anne County is generally treated as Canadian plant hardiness zone 3b, with a frost-free window on the order of 120 days. The zone is read from the Natural Resources Canada plant hardiness map (4th edition, 1991–2020 normals) at a representative quarter; frost dates are a regional table keyed by zone, not a logger on your fence. Those two numbers decide more tree deaths than soil tests do.

Northwest of Edmonton the season shortens. Zone 3a and about 100 frost-free days is a planning floor, not a dare.

What the zone is — and is not

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s plant hardiness maps combine several climate variables, not just one winter low. A zone 3b label means a typical winter in this belt, not the worst winter of the decade, and not the frost pocket at the bottom of your driveway.

Use it to:

Filter nursery stock (do not buy zone 5 peaches for a Lac Ste. Anne County field)
Plan shelterbelts that will still be standing in twenty years
Time cover crops against a 120-day window

Do not use it to:

Ignore a north-facing draw
Skip a thermometer logger for one season
Assume the town of Onoway and a rural quarter share the same last frost

Frost-free days in practice

120 days is a regional sketch. Last spring frost and first fall frost move with elevation, wet ground, and cold-air drainage. In Lac Ste. Anne County, watch:

River and lake edges that radiate heat at night — or collect cold
Open peat or muskeg that frosts early
South walls and gravel pads that buy you a week

A food forest that needs 130 days will fight this county most years. A shelterbelt of zone 3b natives will not.

Pair climate with water and sun

Zone is only one pillar. A 3b site with a 37 m well and 0.8 kWh/m²/day in winter is a different homestead than the same zone on a municipal line. Plan trees, wells, and panels on the same map.

Flood or wet ground near Lac Ste. Anne shoreline, Sturgeon River headwaters can also shorten the effective season by keeping soils cold in May.

See this for your specific parcel

Get a land report for a property in Lac Ste. Anne County →

Sampled data for Lac Ste. Anne County

From a Land Intelligence report run on a representative quarter in Township 56, Range 4, W5. These are measured or record-based values for that location, shown to put the county figures above in context. They are not your parcel.

Annual mean3.4 °Clow -33.5 °C · high 28.7 °C in the sampled year

Days with frost172in the sampled year

Frost windowMay 15 – Sep 18regional table for zone 3b

Growing degree days1484base 5 °C

Precipitation497.5 mm/yr30-year normal at the sample point

Open-Meteo daily archive (ERA5 reanalysis), 2025-10-08 to 2026-10-08: one recent year at the sample point, not a 30-year normal. Use it for the shape of the year, not for a design value.

Growing zones near Lac Ste. Anne County: Barrhead (zone 3a) · Stony Plain (zone 4a) · Spruce Grove (zone 4a) · Westlock (zone 3b) · Alberta growing zones map

Neighbouring counties: County of Barrhead (29 km) · Parkland County (51 km) · Westlock County (57 km) · Sturgeon County (60 km) · Compare Lac Ste. Anne County with another county

Sampled from the live report pipeline at a representative quarter in Township 56, Range 4, W5 on 2026-10-08: well depth, hardiness zone, solar irradiance (87 well records within 5 km). Text reviewed 2026-10-28. Methodology.

Common questions

What should I plant in Lac Ste. Anne County?

Start with zone 3b stock and a 120-day season. Then walk frost pockets.

Is the town of Onoway the same zone?

Often close, not identical. Elevation and cold-air drainage on a rural lot can run colder than town.