Meservey, IA 50457 Frost Dates
Meservey, 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 Meservey, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 5 weeks until Meservey's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Meservey'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.
Meservey against the rest of the dataset
Meservey's growing season runs about 150 days, ranking 35,427 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 1,018 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 50457's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Meservey's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Meservey's dates instead of trusting one.