Carter Lake, IA 68105 Frost Dates
Carter Lake, IA: when does the frost end?
Around 04/18 is the usual last spring frost, about 233 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/21, roughly 185 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Carter Lake in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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
With roughly 8 weeks until Carter Lake'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
04/18 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/05 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Carter Lake against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 185 frost-free days, Carter Lake places 23,152 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IA, it ranks 37 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 68105's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Carter Lake's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Carter Lake can differ from the 68105 normal.