Frost history / Des Moines Wsfo-Johnston, IA
Des Moines Wsfo-Johnston, IA: frost dates by year
Last spring and first fall frost at NOAA station USC00132209, 1996 to 2025, measured from daily minimum temperatures.
Elevation 959 ft, 41.737, -93.724. Download the data (JSON), NOAA daily records
Summary at 32°F
| Last spring frost | First fall frost | |
|---|---|---|
| Median | Apr 22 | Oct 15 |
| Earliest | Apr 7 (2017) | Sep 21 (1999) |
| Latest | May 16 (2014) | Nov 7 (2015) |
| Trend | 0.8 days earlier per decade | 1.6 days later per decade |
| Years with data | 29 | 30 |
At 28°F (hard freeze) the median last spring date is Apr 12 and the median first fall date is Oct 27.
The trend is a straight-line fit through the years with a freeze. A positive spring trend means the last frost now comes later. Short or patchy records give noisy trends.
Chart
Last spring frost (32°F)
First fall frost (32°F)
Dots are single years. The gray line is the median, the green line the fitted trend.
Year by year
| Year | Last spring 32°F | First fall 32°F | Last spring 28°F | First fall 28°F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Apr 8 | Oct 22 | Apr 8 | Nov 9 |
| 2024 | Apr 21 | Oct 16 | Mar 27 | Nov 23 |
| 2023 | Apr 23 | Oct 27 | Apr 23 | Oct 29 |
| 2022 | Apr 26 | Oct 8 | Apr 26 | Oct 17 |
| 2021 | Apr 22 | Oct 22 | Apr 21 | Nov 2 |
| 2020 | Apr 17 | Oct 2 | Apr 15 | Oct 24 |
| 2019 | Apr 28 | Oct 11 | Apr 13 | Oct 25 |
| 2018 | Apr 20 | Oct 15 | Apr 17 | Nov 7 |
| 2017 | Apr 7 | Oct 27 | Mar 22 | Oct 31 |
| 2016 | Apr 12 | Oct 13 | Apr 12 | Nov 12 |
| 2015 | Apr 23 | Nov 7 | Mar 27 | Nov 20 |
| 2014 | May 16 | Oct 4 | Apr 15 | Oct 31 |
| 2013 | May 12 | Oct 23 | Apr 24 | Oct 25 |
| 2012 | no data | Sep 23 | no data | Oct 6 |
| 2011 | May 3 | Oct 20 | May 3 | Oct 21 |
| 2010 | Apr 8 | Oct 28 | Mar 26 | Oct 29 |
| 2009 | Apr 14 | Oct 10 | Apr 7 | Oct 10 |
| 2008 | Apr 29 | Oct 16 | Apr 14 | Oct 27 |
| 2007 | Apr 13 | Oct 23 | Apr 9 | Nov 1 |
| 2006 | Apr 26 | Oct 12 | Apr 8 | Oct 12 |
| 2005 | May 3 | Oct 22 | May 3 | Nov 10 |
| 2004 | May 3 | Oct 1 | Apr 13 | Oct 2 |
| 2003 | Apr 9 | Sep 29 | Apr 9 | Oct 26 |
| 2002 | Apr 9 | Oct 7 | Apr 6 | Oct 13 |
| 2001 | Apr 24 | Oct 6 | Apr 1 | Oct 26 |
| 2000 | Apr 12 | Oct 6 | Apr 12 | Oct 7 |
| 1999 | Apr 18 | Sep 21 | Mar 26 | Oct 4 |
| 1998 | Apr 17 | Nov 4 | Mar 24 | Nov 6 |
| 1997 | May 13 | Oct 20 | Apr 17 | Oct 21 |
| 1996 | Apr 23 | Oct 30 | Apr 16 | Oct 30 |
"none" means the station recorded no freeze at that threshold in that half of the year. "no data" means more than 10% of the season's daily readings were missing. Years with no usable data are left out. See the methodology for the rules, and the ZIP lookup for 1991 to 2020 frost probabilities.