Council Bluffs, IA 51502 Frost Dates
Council Bluffs, IA: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/18, about 233 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/21, roughly 185 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Council Bluffs, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 8 weeks until Council Bluffs's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Council Bluffs's last frost
04/18 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/05 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Council Bluffs against the rest of the dataset
Council Bluffs's growing season runs about 185 days, ranking 23,050 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 33 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 51502's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Council Bluffs's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Council Bluffs's dates instead of trusting one.