Mendota, MN 55116 Frost Dates
55116, near Mendota, MN: the frost window
Around 04/25 is the usual last spring frost, about 240 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Mendota in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Mendota's growing season runs out in roughly 6 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
04/25 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/09 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/09 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Mendota against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 169 frost-free days, Mendota places 29,612 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MN, it ranks 92 of 943.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 55116: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Mendota's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Mendota's dates instead of trusting one.