Ellsworth, IA 50075 Frost Dates
50075, near Ellsworth, IA: the frost window
Around 05/03 is the usual last spring frost, about 248 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/02, roughly 150 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ellsworth in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
Ellsworth's growing season runs out in roughly 5 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
05/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/20 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Ellsworth against the rest of the dataset
About 150 days separate Ellsworth's last and first frost, putting it 35,375 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 1,007 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50075: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Ellsworth's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Ellsworth's dates instead of trusting one.