Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for elkader, ia

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for elkader, ia start to go down, and therefore every day that goes by increases the chance that you'll get frost. Your risk of frost really begins around September 13, and by October 4 you're almost certain to have received at least one frost event.

The charts on this page show the probabilities of receiving a certain temperature on a certain day. Some examples that might help:

  1. You have a small 20% chance of getting 32° by September 17.
  2. There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around September 25
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by October 4
  4. Said another way, you have a 1 in 5 chance at making it to that day without a 32° night.
In the Fall
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
First 16° Oct 19 Oct 24 Oct 28 Oct 31 Nov 3 Nov 7 Nov 10 Nov 14 Nov 19
First 20° Oct 9 Oct 15 Oct 19 Oct 23 Oct 26 Oct 30 Nov 2 Nov 6 Nov 12
First 24° Sep 28 Oct 4 Oct 8 Oct 11 Oct 14 Oct 17 Oct 20 Oct 24 Oct 30
First 28° Sep 20 Sep 25 Sep 28 Oct 1 Oct 4 Oct 6 Oct 9 Oct 12 Oct 17
First 32° Sep 13 Sep 17 Sep 20 Sep 23 Sep 25 Sep 28 Oct 1 Oct 4 Oct 8
First 36° Sep 7 Sep 11 Sep 13 Sep 15 Sep 17 Sep 19 Sep 21 Sep 24 Sep 27

How to read these charts for the spring
As the growing season approaches, the days get longer, the weather begins to warm up, and the nights start being less cold. You're still getting frost, but the chance of nightly frosts gets less and less with each passing day. Eventually, the frost stops, and this is when your tender plants are fully safe. So, how do you plan for this? The probabilities on this page help you assess your risk of frost on any given day.

What's a safe temperature for tender plants? When the nightly temperature falls, frost can form, even above 32°, because the air is colder high above the ground and the frost can form up there and then fall down onto your garden and do some damage, even if it's 36° on the ground. So many factors come into play, including wind, concrete, houses, trees and other structures, etc etc etc. Because of all this, you might want to consider 36° as "the danger zone".

In your average springtime, you have a 90% chance that there will be no 36° nights by June 11. In other words, you can pretty much count on being safe from frost by that day. But we want to get those tomatoes in the ground as soon as possible, right? We see that there's still an 80% chance of 36° on May 13, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by May 24 we are at the 50/50 point. At this point, we are close and we can start watching the weather forecast. If the upcoming week's forecast doesn't show below 40°, then it's probably okay to risk planting out your plants.

In the Spring
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Last 16° Apr 13 Apr 8 Apr 5 Apr 2 Mar 30 Mar 27 Mar 24 Mar 21 Mar 16
Last 20° Apr 20 Apr 16 Apr 13 Apr 11 Apr 8 Apr 6 Apr 4 Apr 1 Mar 28
Last 24° Apr 29 Apr 24 Apr 21 Apr 18 Apr 15 Apr 13 Apr 10 Apr 6 Apr 2
Last 28° May 17 May 12 May 8 May 4 May 1 Apr 28 Apr 25 Apr 21 Apr 15
Last 32° May 25 May 20 May 17 May 15 May 12 May 9 May 7 May 3 Apr 29
Last 36° Jun 11 Jun 5 May 31 May 28 May 24 May 21 May 17 May 13 May 7

Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.