FrostDateCheck

Vesper, WI 54489 Frost Dates

54489, near Vesper, WI: the frost window

Zone 4b

The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/08, about 253 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 145 days after the last spring frost.

Zone 4b (-25 to -20°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 Vesper, not a forecast for this year.

Stretching the season past the first frost

Vesper's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

How much risk comes with planting early here

05/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/26 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/22 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Vesper against the rest of the dataset

About 145 days separate Vesper's last and first frost, putting it 36,263 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within WI, it ranks 662 of 860.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 54489: local microclimates, on what one yard in Vesper can differ from the 54489 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 4b and Vesper's frost date answer different questions.