Hitchcock, SD 57348 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Hitchcock, SD?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/06, roughly 251 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/02, about 146 frost-free days later.
Zone 4b (-25 to -20°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 Hitchcock, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 5 weeks of growing season left in Hitchcock before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/06 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/23 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/20 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Hitchcock compares
At roughly 146 frost-free days, Hitchcock places 36,145 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within SD, it ranks 225 of 378.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Hitchcock can differ from the 57348 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 4b and Hitchcock's frost date answer different questions.