Lesterville, SD 57040 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Lesterville, SD, ZIP 57040
Around 05/01 is the usual last spring frost, about 246 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/04, about 156 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Lesterville in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5a around Lesterville has about 5 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/17 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/14 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Lesterville compares
At roughly 156 frost-free days, Lesterville places 33,876 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within SD, it ranks 93 of 378.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Lesterville's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Lesterville's dates instead of trusting one.