Downing, WI 54734 Frost Dates
54734, near Downing, WI: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/10, about 255 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/29, roughly 140 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 Downing, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Downing'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.
The actual range around Downing's last frost
05/10 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/28 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/26 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Downing against the rest of the dataset
Downing's growing season runs about 140 days, ranking 37,167 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within WI, it ranks 723 of 860.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 54734: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 4b and Downing's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Downing's dates instead of trusting one.