First & Last Frost Dates in North Dakota (2026)
Typical first freeze September 22 · last spring frost May 18 · about 125 growing days between them.
Past the typical first-frost date — freeze season is hereWhere North Dakota sits on the frost line
NOAA 1991 to 2020 normalsA 120-day season concentrates everything — North Dakota gardens sprint from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and September frost is the buzzer.
Frost dates for your exact ZIP
The dates above are the state median. Enter a ZIP code to snap to the nearest of 150 NOAA reference stations and read that station’s own first and last freeze instead:
Frost dates across North Dakota
State averages hide huge local spread — elevation, cold-air drainage, urban heat, and nearby water routinely move frost dates by two to four weeks within the same state. Median dates for representative North Dakota stations:
| City | Typical first frost | Typical last frost |
|---|---|---|
| Fargo | September 28 | May 12 |
| Bismarck | September 22 | May 14 |
| Minot | September 18 | May 18 |
Not near these cities? The ZIP lookup above snaps any US address to its nearest reference station. It is the same tool as the site’s national frost date lookup.
Your North Dakota first-frost playbook
The North Dakota planting calendar
Every date below is computed from North Dakota’s own frost anchors — last frost ~May 18, first frost ~September 22 — using the standard week-count rules seed packets assume. Shift everything a few days for your microclimate (see the city table above).
| Garden task | Typical North Dakota date | The rule it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Start onions & leeks indoors | March 9 | ~10 weeks before last frost |
| Start peppers & tomatoes indoors | March 23 | ~8 weeks before last frost |
| Direct-sow peas & spinach | April 13 | ~5 weeks before last frost |
| Plant potatoes | May 4 | ~2 weeks before last frost |
| Transplant tomatoes & peppers out | June 9 | ~1 week after the late frost date |
| Sow fall carrots (70-day) | June 29 | ~12 weeks before first frost |
| Sow fall spinach & lettuce | August 3 | ~7 weeks before first frost |
| Plant garlic | October 6 | ~2 weeks after first frost |
Two rules do most of the work: count backward from first frost for fall crops (a 70-day carrot needs sowing ~12 weeks out, because fall growth slows as days shorten), and count forward from the late last-frost date — not the median — for anything frost-tender going outside.
What dies at what temperature
“Frost” isn’t one event. Surfaces can frost with air temps as high as 36–37°F on calm clear nights; a freeze is 32°F; a hard freeze is 28°F and ends the season for anything unprotected. Crops check out at very different points along the way:
| Crops | Damage point | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Basil, impatiens, coleus, sweet potato vine | 38–40°F | Damaged before an official frost even hits |
| Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, beans | 32°F | Killed by the first light freeze |
| Lettuce, chard, cilantro, peas | 28°F | Shrug off light frost; done at a hard freeze |
| Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, beets | 25°F | Keep producing weeks past first frost |
| Kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, parsnips | 15–20°F | Frost makes them sweeter — harvest all late fall |
The practical read for North Dakota: once you’re inside the September 8–October 6 window, the top two rows are living on borrowed time — while the bottom two rows are just getting started. Frost converts starches to sugars in kale, carrots, and parsnips; the sweetest harvests of the year come after first frost.
North Dakota frost date FAQ
Plan the rest of the season
More Midwest frost dates
Dates are median first/last 32°F freeze approximations from NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals for representative stations, bracketed by roughly the 10%/90% range. Any single year varies; microclimates vary more. National picture: first frost dates for every state