Minneapolis, MN 55403 Frost Dates
55403, near Minneapolis, MN: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/23, roughly 238 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/16, roughly 175 days after the last spring frost.
Minneapolis 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
Minneapolis's growing season runs out in roughly 7 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
04/23 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/10 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/07 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Minneapolis against the rest of the dataset
Minneapolis's growing season runs about 175 days, ranking 26,692 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MN, it ranks 46 of 943.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 55403: local microclimates, on what one yard in Minneapolis can differ from the 55403 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Minneapolis's frost date answer different questions.