Waverly, IA 50677 Frost Dates
Waverly, IA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/29, roughly 244 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/09, roughly 162 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 Waverly, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 6 weeks until Waverly's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/29 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/14 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.
Waverly against the rest of the dataset
Waverly's growing season runs about 162 days, ranking 31,689 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 690 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 50677's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Waverly's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Waverly's dates instead of trusting one.