Belmond, IA 50421 Frost Dates
50421, near Belmond, IA: the frost window
Around 04/30 is the usual last spring frost, about 245 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/10, roughly 162 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Belmond 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
Belmond'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 04/30 isn't a guarantee
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/12 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Belmond against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 162 frost-free days, Belmond places 31,751 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 698 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50421: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Belmond's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Belmond's dates instead of trusting one.