Overland Park, KS Frost Dates: Last Spring and First Fall Frost

Overland Park gardeners can count on April 10 as the even-odds date for the last spring frost and October 29 as the even-odds date for the first fall frost, which adds up to 202 days without a freeze in a typical year.

Dates at even odds leave half of all years unprotected. The safer pair for Overland Park is April 24 in spring, which only one year in ten passes, and October 13 in fall, which one year in ten arrives before. The median season across the 100 cities on these pages is 229 days; Overland Park comes up 27 days short of it, 70th on the list.

NOAA measured them at Olathe 3E (station USC00145972), about 3.8 miles west of the Census Bureau's internal point for Overland Park and about 1,050 feet above sea level.

When is the last frost in Overland Park?

NOAA gives March 27 as the date a spring freeze is still ahead in nine years out of ten, April 10 as the date it is still ahead in half of them, and April 24 as the date only one year in ten passes.

The early and late dates sit just 28 days apart, narrower than for most cities on these pages. Spring in Overland Park rarely surprises by much.

When is the first frost in Overland Park?

Expect the first freeze of fall by October 29 in a typical year. One year in ten brings it by October 13, and nine in ten have had it by November 12.

From the earliest first freeze to the latest is 30 days, close to the middle of the pack.

Overland Park's frost-free season

The season is somewhat shorter than the middle of these pages, so a seed packet's days to maturity deserve a second look. A short year costs just 21 days against a typical one (181 days against 202 days), so a season-length plan for Overland Park holds up in most years.

NOAA counts these days from its own simulations, so they will not equal the number of days between the two typical dates exactly. A night at or below 32°F happens in 100% of years at this station, so frost is a yearly event here.

28°F dates in Overland Park

A hard freeze follows the first frost quickly in Overland Park: the typical 28°F night arrives on November 6 in fall, only 8 days after the first 32°F one on October 29, and in spring the last one comes on March 31, 10 days before the last 32°F frost. Tender plants get little warning here. One spring in ten still has a 28°F night on or after April 17, and one fall in ten sees the first by October 23.

What this means for planting in Overland Park

In Overland Park the University of New Hampshire Extension count lands like this, measured from the typical last frost on April 10: lettuce from March 13 to March 20, cabbage on March 13, seed potatoes from March 27 to April 3, then peppers on April 24 and beans from April 10. The University of New Hampshire Extension sheet gives peas no frost count at all; sow them as soon as the soil thaws.

Counting from the late date, April 24, instead of the typical one delays every after-frost crop by 14 days. That is the price of a one-in-ten spring that most years will not need.

Fall crops are counted back from the first frost, using NC State Extension's days to harvest plus University of Georgia Extension's harvest allowance of 18 days. In Overland Park only 29 of the 34 crops in the fall planner have a last planting day in July or later, and the other 5 would have to go in before then, in spring or early summer. Of the crops that fit, Chinese cabbage is the slowest: 103 days from planting to the early frost, which makes July 2 its last day.

Worked example: setting out tomatoes in Overland Park

Suppose you want tomatoes in Overland Park. University of New Hampshire Extension says to set transplants out one to two weeks after the last frost. Counting from the typical date, April 10, the window runs from April 17 to April 24. Counting from the late date, April 24, it moves to May 1 through May 8, which is 14 days later.

Seeds start six to eight weeks before the set-out day, so counting back from the first day of the late window gives March 6 to March 20 for sowing indoors.

That leaves 158 days against 75 to 85 days for the plants to reach harvest, so even the late schedule fits in an early-frost year with 73 days to spare.

Where Overland Park's numbers are measured

The station is 3.8 miles west of the Census Bureau's internal point for Overland Park, near enough to be the city's reference record, though not in the same yard.

At about 1,050 feet, it ranks above 71 and below 28 of the 100 stations used for these pages. NOAA flags this station's record as representative, the code R, for the data behind its 50% last-frost value.

Because the Census file has no elevation for Overland Park, we cannot say how far your yard is above or below this station. When yours is clearly higher or lower, open the nearby stations in the frost dates tool and favor the colder one.

Overland Park compared with nearby cities

The closest city on these pages is Kansas City, MO, 18 miles away. The next two are farther afield, so read them as a wider look at the region.

• Kansas City, MO lies 18 miles north-east of Overland Park. Typical last frost April 4, first frost November 2, 211 days between; the last frost is 6 days earlier than in Overland Park, and the frost-free season is 9 days longer than Overland Park's.
• Wichita, KS lies 166 miles south-west of Overland Park. Typical last frost April 11, first frost October 29, 199 days between; spring frost ends about when it does in Overland Park, and the season is within about a week of Overland Park's.
• Lincoln, NE, 169 miles to the north-west: last frost April 24, first frost October 13, 171 days frost-free; the last frost is 14 days later than in Overland Park, and the season runs 31 days shorter.

Put the frost dates to work

To go beyond the crops above, use the spring planting planner and fall planting planner, both set to this station. The frost dates tool shows the full odds for Overland Park, and the hardiness zone lookup gives the winter-cold zone for your ZIP code.

Every city covered is on the city frost dates index, sorted by state.

Where these numbers come from

Every frost and freeze date comes from the station's entry in NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020 (doi:10.25921/4ek7-fk11), with no adjustment, and NOAA's documentation explains what each probability means. Overland Park and its internal point are listed in the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer of places; its place in the ranking comes from the Vintage 2024 population estimates, which count 202,893 residents.

The planting dates apply the count rules in University of New Hampshire Extension, NC State Extension and University of Georgia Extension to this station's dates, with nothing added. The methodology page explains how each figure is checked.

Frost dates are long-term odds, not a forecast. Before you plant, check the local forecast for the coming week, and keep row cover or old sheets handy for the nights the odds get wrong.