Panora, IA 50216 Frost Dates
50216, near Panora, 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 Panora 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
Panora'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.
The actual range around Panora's last frost
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.
Panora against the rest of the dataset
Panora's growing season runs about 153 days, ranking 34,567 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 922 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50216: the frost range, on how to read the range around Panora's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Panora can differ from the 50216 normal.