Des Moines, IA 50314 Frost Dates
Des Moines, IA: when does the frost end?
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.
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 Des Moines, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 8 weeks until Des Moines'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
04/18 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.
Des Moines against the rest of the dataset
About 184 days separate Des Moines's last and first frost, putting it 23,379 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 47 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 50314's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Des Moines can differ from the 50314 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Des Moines's frost date answer different questions.