Goodell, IA 50439 Frost Dates
50439, near Goodell, IA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/30, about 245 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/10, roughly 162 days after the last spring frost.
Goodell 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
Goodell'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
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.
Goodell against the rest of the dataset
Goodell's growing season runs about 162 days, ranking 31,887 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 740 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50439: the frost range, on how to read the range around Goodell's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Goodell can differ from the 50439 normal.