Lakota, IA 50451 Frost Dates
Lakota, IA: when does the frost end?
Around 04/25 is the usual last spring frost, about 240 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/14, roughly 171 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Lakota 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
With roughly 7 weeks until Lakota's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Lakota's last frost
04/25 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/06 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Lakota against the rest of the dataset
Lakota's growing season runs about 171 days, ranking 28,818 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 290 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 50451's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Lakota's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Lakota's dates instead of trusting one.