Madison, WI 53715 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Madison, WI, ZIP 53715
Around 05/01 is the usual last spring frost, about 246 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/09, about 161 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Madison in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5a around Madison has about 6 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/18 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/17 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Madison compares
At roughly 161 frost-free days, Madison places 31,912 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within WI, it ranks 294 of 860.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Madison can differ from the 53715 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Madison's frost date answer different questions.