Alvord, IA 51230 Frost Dates
Alvord, IA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/01, roughly 246 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/04, roughly 156 days after the last spring frost.
Alvord 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
With roughly 5 weeks until Alvord's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 05/01 isn't a guarantee
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/18 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/13 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Alvord against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 156 frost-free days, Alvord places 33,845 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 866 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 51230's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Alvord can differ from the 51230 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Alvord's frost date answer different questions.