Madison, WI 53726 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Madison, WI?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/01, roughly 246 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/09, about 161 frost-free days later.
Madison 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.
What to do before the first frost
About 6 weeks of growing season left in Madison before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
Why 05/01 isn't a guarantee
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 31,914 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within WI, it ranks 296 of 860.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Madison can differ from the 53726 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 5b and Madison's frost date answer different questions.