Hardwick, MN 56134 Frost Dates
56134, near Hardwick, MN: the frost window
Around 05/04 is the usual last spring frost, about 249 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/02, roughly 152 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Hardwick in Zone 4b (-25 to -20°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
Hardwick'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.
Why 05/04 isn't a guarantee
05/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/21 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/19 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Hardwick against the rest of the dataset
About 152 days separate Hardwick's last and first frost, putting it 34,903 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MN, it ranks 471 of 943.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 56134: local microclimates, on what one yard in Hardwick can differ from the 56134 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 4b and Hardwick's frost date answer different questions.