Des Moines, IA 50316 Frost Dates
50316, near 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.
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
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.
Why 04/18 isn't a guarantee
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
Des Moines's growing season runs about 184 days, ranking 23,381 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 49 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50316: the frost range, on how to read the range around Des Moines's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Des Moines can differ from the 50316 normal.