Baxter, IA 50028 Frost Dates
Baxter, IA: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/22, about 237 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/17, roughly 174 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Baxter in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 7 weeks until Baxter's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Baxter's last frost
04/22 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/08 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Baxter against the rest of the dataset
About 174 days separate Baxter's last and first frost, putting it 27,553 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 193 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 50028's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Baxter can differ from the 50028 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Baxter's frost date answer different questions.