Murray, IA 50174 Frost Dates
Murray, IA: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/23, about 238 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/17, roughly 176 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Murray, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 7 weeks until Murray's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/23 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/07 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/06 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Murray against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 176 frost-free days, Murray places 26,593 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 150 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 50174's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Murray can differ from the 50174 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Murray's frost date answer different questions.