Gilbertville, IA 50634 Frost Dates
50634, near Gilbertville, IA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/27, roughly 242 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/10, roughly 165 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Gilbertville 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
Gilbertville'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.
Why 04/27 isn't a guarantee
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 05/10 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Gilbertville against the rest of the dataset
About 165 days separate Gilbertville's last and first frost, putting it 30,657 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 522 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50634: local microclimates, on what one yard in Gilbertville can differ from the 50634 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Gilbertville's frost date answer different questions.