Cottage Grove, WI 53718 Frost Dates
Cottage Grove, WI: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/01, about 246 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/10, roughly 160 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Cottage Grove, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 6 weeks until Cottage Grove's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 05/01 isn't a guarantee
05/01 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 05/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Cottage Grove against the rest of the dataset
Cottage Grove's growing season runs about 160 days, ranking 32,274 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within WI, it ranks 341 of 860.
Learn more
Before leaning on 53718's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Cottage Grove's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Cottage Grove can differ from the 53718 normal.