Lead, SD 57754 Frost Dates
Lead, SD: when does the frost end?
Around 05/18 is the usual last spring frost, about 263 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/29, roughly 133 days after the last spring frost.
Lead 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.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 5 weeks until Lead'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
05/18 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/05 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/01 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Lead against the rest of the dataset
Lead's growing season runs about 133 days, ranking 38,062 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within SD, it ranks 359 of 378.
Learn more
Before leaning on 57754's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Lead can differ from the 57754 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Lead's frost date answer different questions.