Fertile, IA 50434 Frost Dates
Fertile, IA: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/03, about 248 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 150 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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 Fertile, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 5 weeks until Fertile's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Fertile's last frost
05/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/19 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Fertile against the rest of the dataset
About 150 days separate Fertile's last and first frost, putting it 35,403 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 1,014 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 50434's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Fertile's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Fertile can differ from the 50434 normal.