Cincinnati, IA 52549 Frost Dates
Cincinnati, 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 10/14, roughly 168 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Cincinnati in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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
With roughly 7 weeks until Cincinnati's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/13 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Cincinnati against the rest of the dataset
Cincinnati's growing season runs about 168 days, ranking 29,781 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 392 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 52549's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Cincinnati can differ from the 52549 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Cincinnati's frost date answer different questions.