Collins, IA 50055 Frost Dates
50055, near Collins, IA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/24, roughly 239 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 170 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Collins 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
Collins's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/24 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/09 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/07 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Collins against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 170 frost-free days, Collins places 29,188 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 313 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50055: the frost range, on how to read the range around Collins's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Collins can differ from the 50055 normal.