West Bend, IA 50597 Frost Dates
West Bend, IA: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/27, about 242 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/07, roughly 164 days after the last spring frost.
West Bend sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 6 weeks until West Bend's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around West Bend'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.
West Bend against the rest of the dataset
West Bend's growing season runs about 164 days, ranking 31,079 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 605 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 50597's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and West Bend's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around West Bend's dates instead of trusting one.