Centralia, IA 52004 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Centralia, IA, ZIP 52004
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/28, roughly 243 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/11, about 165 frost-free days later.
Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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 Centralia, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5a around Centralia has about 6 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/13 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/12 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Centralia compares
At roughly 165 frost-free days, Centralia places 30,776 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 562 of 1,042.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Centralia can differ from the 52004 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Centralia's frost date answer different questions.