Frost history / Uw Arboretum - Madison, WI
Uw Arboretum - Madison, WI: frost dates by year
Last spring and first fall frost at NOAA station USC00470273, 1972 to 2025, measured from daily minimum temperatures.
Elevation 870 ft, 43.041, -89.429. Download the data (JSON) · NOAA daily records
Summary at 32°F
| Last spring frost | First fall frost | |
|---|---|---|
| Median | May 8 | Oct 3 |
| Earliest | Apr 17 (2007) | Aug 16 (1979) |
| Latest | Jun 25 (1979) | Oct 29 (2017) |
| Trend | 4.4 days earlier per decade | 4.9 days later per decade |
| Years with data | 52 | 49 |
At 28°F (hard freeze) the median last spring date is Apr 28 and the median first fall date is Oct 13.
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 | May 9 | Oct 9 | Apr 16 | Oct 24 |
| 2024 | Apr 25 | Oct 16 | Apr 25 | Oct 17 |
| 2023 | Apr 26 | Oct 11 | Apr 26 | Oct 30 |
| 2022 | Apr 28 | Oct 8 | Apr 17 | Oct 19 |
| 2021 | May 11 | Oct 23 | Apr 22 | Nov 3 |
| 2020 | May 13 | Oct 2 | May 9 | Oct 19 |
| 2019 | May 12 | Oct 12 | Apr 28 | Oct 25 |
| 2018 | Apr 29 | Oct 13 | Apr 29 | Oct 13 |
| 2017 | May 7 | Oct 29 | Apr 1 | Oct 29 |
| 2016 | May 15 | Oct 13 | Apr 13 | Nov 12 |
| 2015 | Apr 28 | Oct 17 | Apr 24 | Oct 17 |
| 2014 | Apr 23 | Oct 11 | Apr 18 | Oct 22 |
| 2013 | May 13 | Oct 15 | Apr 21 | Oct 22 |
| 2012 | Apr 29 | Sep 19 | Apr 23 | Oct 7 |
| 2011 | May 5 | Oct 2 | May 4 | Oct 29 |
| 2010 | May 10 | Oct 4 | Apr 10 | Oct 22 |
| 2009 | Apr 22 | Oct 10 | Apr 17 | Oct 10 |
| 2008 | Apr 30 | Oct 4 | Apr 30 | Oct 4 |
| 2007 | Apr 17 | Sep 15 | Apr 17 | Oct 28 |
| 2006 | May 6 | Oct 12 | Apr 8 | Oct 12 |
| 2005 | no data | Oct 20 | no data | Oct 27 |
| 2004 | May 4 | no data | May 3 | no data |
| 2003 | May 3 | Oct 1 | Apr 23 | Oct 2 |
| 2002 | May 21 | no data | May 18 | no data |
| 2001 | Apr 19 | Oct 6 | Apr 18 | Oct 7 |
| 2000 | Apr 22 | Oct 7 | Apr 12 | Oct 9 |
| 1999 | May 1 | Oct 2 | Apr 25 | Oct 2 |
| 1998 | Apr 29 | Oct 9 | Apr 28 | Oct 22 |
| 1997 | May 22 | Sep 24 | May 21 | Oct 15 |
| 1996 | May 30 | Oct 3 | May 13 | Oct 3 |
| 1995 | May 22 | Sep 23 | Apr 25 | Sep 23 |
| 1994 | May 27 | Oct 9 | May 6 | Oct 10 |
| 1993 | Apr 27 | Sep 24 | Apr 22 | Sep 30 |
| 1992 | Jun 21 | Sep 23 | May 27 | Sep 29 |
| 1991 | May 4 | Sep 20 | Apr 22 | Sep 20 |
| 1990 | May 11 | Oct 1 | May 11 | Oct 13 |
| 1989 | May 12 | Sep 24 | May 12 | Sep 24 |
| 1988 | no data | Sep 6 | no data | Oct 3 |
| 1987 | May 5 | Oct 1 | May 5 | Oct 3 |
| 1986 | May 3 | Oct 6 | May 3 | Oct 6 |
| 1985 | May 23 | Sep 25 | Apr 9 | Oct 16 |
| 1984 | May 31 | no data | May 2 | no data |
| 1983 | May 26 | Sep 24 | May 10 | Sep 24 |
| 1982 | Apr 30 | Sep 22 | Apr 28 | Oct 17 |
| 1981 | May 20 | Sep 23 | May 12 | Oct 3 |
| 1980 | Jun 10 | no data | May 9 | no data |
| 1979 | Jun 25 | Aug 16 | May 1 | Sep 22 |
| 1978 | May 6 | Sep 28 | May 2 | Oct 8 |
| 1977 | Jun 9 | Oct 2 | May 10 | Oct 13 |
| 1976 | May 25 | no data | May 8 | no data |
| 1975 | May 1 | Sep 9 | Apr 26 | Sep 26 |
| 1974 | May 13 | Sep 4 | May 7 | Sep 22 |
| 1973 | May 17 | Oct 17 | Apr 14 | Oct 17 |
| 1972 | May 10 | Oct 7 | Apr 27 | Oct 15 |
"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 1991–2020 frost probabilities.