Iowa Falls, IA 50126 Frost Dates
50126, near Iowa Falls, IA: the frost window
Around 04/28 is the usual last spring frost, about 243 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/10, roughly 164 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Iowa Falls 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
Iowa Falls'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.
Why 04/28 isn't a guarantee
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/13 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Iowa Falls against the rest of the dataset
About 164 days separate Iowa Falls's last and first frost, putting it 30,912 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 579 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50126: the frost range, on how to read the range around Iowa Falls's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Iowa Falls can differ from the 50126 normal.