Little Rock, IA 51243 Frost Dates
51243, near Little Rock, IA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/05, about 250 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/03, roughly 152 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Little Rock in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
Little Rock'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.
The actual range around Little Rock's last frost
05/05 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/22 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.
Little Rock against the rest of the dataset
Little Rock's growing season runs about 152 days, ranking 34,871 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 953 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 51243: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Little Rock's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Little Rock's dates instead of trusting one.