Scotland, SD 57059 Frost Dates
Scotland, SD: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/01, roughly 246 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/04, roughly 156 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Scotland in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
With roughly 5 weeks until Scotland's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Scotland's last frost
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Scotland against the rest of the dataset
About 156 days separate Scotland's last and first frost, putting it 33,750 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within SD, it ranks 83 of 378.
Learn more
Before leaning on 57059's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Scotland can differ from the 57059 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Scotland's frost date answer different questions.