Mankato, KS 66956 Frost Dates
Mankato, KS: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/30, roughly 245 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/14, roughly 165 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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 Mankato, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 7 weeks until Mankato's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 04/30 isn't a guarantee
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/15 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Mankato against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 165 frost-free days, Mankato places 30,654 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within KS, it ranks 705 of 745.
Learn more
Before leaning on 66956's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Mankato can differ from the 66956 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Mankato's frost date answer different questions.