Topeka, KS 66636 Frost Dates
66636, near Topeka, KS: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/16, roughly 231 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/22, roughly 189 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Topeka in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Topeka's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
The actual range around Topeka's last frost
04/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/27 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Topeka against the rest of the dataset
Topeka's growing season runs about 189 days, ranking 21,379 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within KS, it ranks 320 of 745.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 66636: local microclimates, on what one yard in Topeka can differ from the 66636 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Topeka's frost date answer different questions.