Central City, IA 52214 Frost Dates
Central City, IA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/28, roughly 243 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 166 days after the last spring frost.
Central City 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.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 6 weeks until Central City's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Central City's last frost
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/14 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/13 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Central City against the rest of the dataset
Central City's growing season runs about 166 days, ranking 30,405 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 463 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 52214's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Central City's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Central City can differ from the 52214 normal.