Kent, MN 56553 Frost Dates
56553, near Kent, MN: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/04, about 249 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/03, roughly 152 days after the last spring frost.
Kent sits in USDA Zone 4a (-30 to -25°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
Kent'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
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 05/17 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Kent against the rest of the dataset
Kent's growing season runs about 152 days, ranking 34,924 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MN, it ranks 479 of 943.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 56553: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 4a and Kent's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Kent's dates instead of trusting one.