Alpha, MN 56111 Frost Dates
56111, near Alpha, MN: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/28, roughly 243 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/08, roughly 162 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Alpha 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
Alpha'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
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/13 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.
Alpha against the rest of the dataset
About 162 days separate Alpha's last and first frost, putting it 31,897 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MN, it ranks 193 of 943.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 56111: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Alpha's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Alpha's dates instead of trusting one.