Bloomington, MN 55431 Frost Dates
55431, near Bloomington, MN: the frost window
Around 04/23 is the usual last spring frost, about 238 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/18, roughly 176 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Bloomington 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
Bloomington'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 04/08 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.
Bloomington against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 176 frost-free days, Bloomington places 26,337 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MN, it ranks 26 of 943.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 55431: the frost range, on how to read the range around Bloomington's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Bloomington can differ from the 55431 normal.