West Des Moines, IA 50266 Frost Dates
50266, near West Des Moines, IA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/18, about 233 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/20, roughly 184 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts West Des Moines 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
West Des Moines's growing season runs out in roughly 8 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 West Des Moines's last frost
04/18 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/04 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/02 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
West Des Moines against the rest of the dataset
West Des Moines's growing season runs about 184 days, ranking 23,405 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 54 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50266: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and West Des Moines's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around West Des Moines's dates instead of trusting one.