Wallingford, IA 51365 Frost Dates
51365, near Wallingford, IA: the frost window
Around 05/02 is the usual last spring frost, about 247 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/03, roughly 153 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Wallingford 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
Wallingford'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
05/02 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 05/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Wallingford against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 153 frost-free days, Wallingford places 34,648 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 940 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 51365: the frost range, on how to read the range around Wallingford's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Wallingford can differ from the 51365 normal.