Woodward, IA 50276 Frost Dates
50276, near Woodward, IA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/28, about 243 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 165 days after the last spring frost.
Woodward sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Woodward'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.
Woodward against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 165 frost-free days, Woodward places 30,630 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 511 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50276: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Woodward's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Woodward's dates instead of trusting one.