Fairburn, SD 57738 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Fairburn, SD, ZIP 57738
Around 05/15 is the usual last spring frost, about 260 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 09/29, about 133 frost-free days later.
Fairburn sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5a around Fairburn 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.
Why 05/15 isn't a guarantee
05/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 05/04 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/30 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Fairburn compares
At roughly 133 frost-free days, Fairburn places 38,153 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within SD, it ranks 363 of 378.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Fairburn's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Fairburn's dates instead of trusting one.