Titonka, IA 50480 Frost Dates
50480, near Titonka, IA: the frost window
Around 04/27 is the usual last spring frost, about 242 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/07, roughly 164 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Titonka 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
Titonka'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.
The actual range around Titonka's last frost
04/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/11 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/09 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Titonka against the rest of the dataset
Titonka's growing season runs about 164 days, ranking 31,122 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 617 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50480: local microclimates, on what one yard in Titonka can differ from the 50480 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Titonka's frost date answer different questions.