Klemme, IA 50449 Frost Dates
50449, near Klemme, IA: the frost window
Around 05/03 is the usual last spring frost, about 248 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 150 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Klemme 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
Klemme's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/03 isn't a guarantee
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.
Klemme against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 150 frost-free days, Klemme places 35,381 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 1,008 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50449: the frost range, on how to read the range around Klemme's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Klemme can differ from the 50449 normal.