Sioux Center, IA 51250 Frost Dates
Sioux Center, IA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/30, roughly 245 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/03, roughly 154 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Sioux Center 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
With roughly 5 weeks until Sioux Center's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
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 04/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/12 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Sioux Center against the rest of the dataset
About 154 days separate Sioux Center's last and first frost, putting it 34,254 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 892 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 51250's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Sioux Center's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Sioux Center's dates instead of trusting one.