Northome, MN 56661 Frost Dates
56661, near Northome, MN: the frost window
Around 05/16 is the usual last spring frost, about 261 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/26, roughly 131 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 3b (-35 to -30°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Northome, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Northome's growing season runs out in roughly 4 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
05/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/03 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Northome against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 131 frost-free days, Northome places 38,341 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MN, it ranks 838 of 943.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 56661: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 3b and Northome's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Northome's dates instead of trusting one.