Peterson, IA 51047 Frost Dates
51047, near Peterson, IA: the frost window
Around 04/30 is the usual last spring frost, about 245 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/05, roughly 159 days after the last spring frost.
Peterson 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
Peterson'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/30 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 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Peterson against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 159 frost-free days, Peterson places 32,756 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 795 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 51047: the frost range, on how to read the range around Peterson's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Peterson can differ from the 51047 normal.