Rickardsville, IA 52039 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Rickardsville, IA, ZIP 52039
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/19, about 234 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/21, about 184 frost-free days later.
Rickardsville sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5a around Rickardsville has about 8 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
04/19 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/04 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/04 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Rickardsville compares
About 184 days separate Rickardsville's last and first frost, putting it 23,662 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 77 of 1,042.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Rickardsville's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Rickardsville's dates instead of trusting one.