Menlo, IA 50164 Frost Dates
50164, near Menlo, IA: the frost window
Around 05/02 is the usual last spring frost, about 247 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/03, roughly 153 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Menlo 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
Menlo'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
05/02 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/18 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/17 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Menlo against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 153 frost-free days, Menlo places 34,618 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 935 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50164: local microclimates, on what one yard in Menlo can differ from the 50164 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Menlo's frost date answer different questions.