Elkhorn, WI 53138 Frost Dates
Elkhorn, WI: 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.
Elkhorn sits in USDA Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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 7 weeks until Elkhorn's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 04/28 isn't a guarantee
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Elkhorn against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 168 frost-free days, Elkhorn places 29,690 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within WI, it ranks 140 of 860.
Learn more
Before leaning on 53138's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Elkhorn's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Elkhorn can differ from the 53138 normal.