FrostDateCheck

Waupaca, WI 54981 Frost Dates

Waupaca, WI: when does the frost end?

Zone 5a

Around 05/08 is the usual last spring frost, about 253 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/06, roughly 151 days after the last spring frost.

Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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 Waupaca, not a forecast for this year.

Stretching the season past the first frost

With roughly 6 weeks until Waupaca's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.

Why 05/08 isn't a guarantee

05/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/21 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Waupaca against the rest of the dataset

About 151 days separate Waupaca's last and first frost, putting it 35,006 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within WI, it ranks 531 of 860.

Learn more

Before leaning on 54981's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Waupaca's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Waupaca can differ from the 54981 normal.