Clearfield, IA 50840 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Clearfield, IA, ZIP 50840
Around 04/25 is the usual last spring frost, about 240 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/12, about 169 frost-free days later.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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 Clearfield, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5b around Clearfield has about 6 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
The actual range around Clearfield's last frost
04/25 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/10 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/09 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Clearfield compares
About 169 days separate Clearfield's last and first frost, putting it 29,594 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 350 of 1,042.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Clearfield can differ from the 50840 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Clearfield's frost date answer different questions.