Larrabee, IA 51029 Frost Dates
51029, near Larrabee, IA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/04, roughly 249 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/04, roughly 152 days after the last spring frost.
Larrabee 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
Larrabee's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/04 isn't a guarantee
05/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/20 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/17 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Larrabee against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 152 frost-free days, Larrabee places 34,915 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 963 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 51029: the frost range, on how to read the range around Larrabee's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Larrabee can differ from the 51029 normal.