Vermillion, MN 55085 Frost Dates
55085, near Vermillion, MN: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/02, roughly 247 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/05, roughly 155 days after the last spring frost.
Vermillion sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Vermillion'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
05/02 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/19 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.
Vermillion against the rest of the dataset
Vermillion's growing season runs about 155 days, ranking 34,099 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MN, it ranks 363 of 943.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 55085: the frost range, on how to read the range around Vermillion's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Vermillion can differ from the 55085 normal.