Lake City, SD 57247 Frost Dates
Lake City, SD: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/02, about 247 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/09, roughly 160 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 4a (-30 to -25°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 Lake City, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 6 weeks until Lake City's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/02 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/19 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Lake City against the rest of the dataset
Lake City's growing season runs about 160 days, ranking 32,561 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within SD, it ranks 33 of 378.
Learn more
Before leaning on 57247's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 4a and Lake City's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Lake City's dates instead of trusting one.