Rockwell, IA 50469 Frost Dates
50469, near Rockwell, 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.
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 Rockwell, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Rockwell'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.
Rockwell against the rest of the dataset
About 150 days separate Rockwell's last and first frost, putting it 35,342 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 1,004 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50469: the frost range, on how to read the range around Rockwell's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Rockwell can differ from the 50469 normal.