Cylinder, IA 50528 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Cylinder, IA?
Around 04/27 is the usual last spring frost, about 242 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/07, about 164 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Cylinder in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
About 6 weeks of growing season left in Cylinder before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Cylinder's last frost
04/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/11 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/09 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Cylinder compares
At roughly 164 frost-free days, Cylinder places 31,255 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 653 of 1,042.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Cylinder can differ from the 50528 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 5a and Cylinder's frost date answer different questions.