Wapello, IA 52653 Frost Dates
52653, near Wapello, IA: the frost window
Around 04/14 is the usual last spring frost, about 229 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/24, roughly 190 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Wapello 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
Wapello's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/14 isn't a guarantee
04/14 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/02 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Wapello against the rest of the dataset
About 190 days separate Wapello's last and first frost, putting it 21,192 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IA, it ranks 7 of 1,042.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 52653: the frost range, on how to read the range around Wapello's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Wapello can differ from the 52653 normal.