Dakota City, IA 50529 Frost Dates
50529, near Dakota City, IA: the frost window
Around 04/26 is the usual last spring frost, about 241 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 169 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 Dakota City, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Dakota City'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/26 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 05/07 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Dakota City against the rest of the dataset
Dakota City's growing season runs about 169 days, ranking 29,534 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 336 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50529: local microclimates, on what one yard in Dakota City can differ from the 50529 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Dakota City's frost date answer different questions.