FrostDateCheck

Newell, SD 57760 Frost Dates

57760, near Newell, SD: the frost window

Zone 4b

The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/08, about 253 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 144 days after the last spring frost.

Newell sits in USDA Zone 4b (-25 to -20°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

Newell's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

Why 05/08 isn't a guarantee

05/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/27 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/22 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Newell against the rest of the dataset

At roughly 144 frost-free days, Newell places 36,430 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within SD, it ranks 256 of 378.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 57760: local microclimates, on what one yard in Newell can differ from the 57760 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 4b and Newell's frost date answer different questions.