Benton, IA 50835 Frost Dates
50835, near Benton, IA: the frost window
Around 04/25 is the usual last spring frost, about 240 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Benton in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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
Benton'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 04/25 isn't a guarantee
04/25 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/10 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.
Benton against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 169 frost-free days, Benton places 29,640 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 366 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 50835: the frost range, on how to read the range around Benton's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Benton can differ from the 50835 normal.