Badger, MN 56714 Frost Dates
56714, near Badger, MN: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/16, about 261 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/24, roughly 129 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 Badger, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Badger'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.
Why 05/16 isn't a guarantee
05/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/05 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.
Badger against the rest of the dataset
Badger's growing season runs about 129 days, ranking 38,492 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MN, it ranks 869 of 943.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 56714: the frost range, on how to read the range around Badger's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Badger can differ from the 56714 normal.