FrostDateCheck

Stoughton, WI 53589 Frost Dates

53589, near Stoughton, WI: the frost window

Zone 5b

The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/30, about 245 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/11, roughly 163 days after the last spring frost.

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Stoughton 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

Stoughton's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

The actual range around Stoughton's last frost

04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/16 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Stoughton against the rest of the dataset

At roughly 163 frost-free days, Stoughton places 31,352 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within WI, it ranks 221 of 860.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 53589: local microclimates, on what one yard in Stoughton can differ from the 53589 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Stoughton's frost date answer different questions.