St. Paul, MN Frost Dates: Last Spring and First Fall Frost

The last spring frost in St. Paul, MN comes on April 24 in a typical year, and the first fall frost follows on October 16, leaving a frost-free season of 174 days.

Dates at even odds leave half of all years unprotected. The safer pair for St. Paul is May 10 in spring, which only one year in ten passes, and October 2 in fall, which one year in ten arrives before. St. Paul's season is 55 days shorter than the 229 days median across the 100 cities on these pages, so it ranks 91st for season length.

NOAA measured them at St Paul Downtown AP (station USW00014927), about 2.7 miles south-east of the Census Bureau's internal point for St. Paul and about 700 feet above sea level.

St. Paul's last spring frost, by chance

Frost is still possible on April 9 in nine springs out of ten and on April 24 in five; only one spring in ten sees a freeze as late as May 10.

The early and late dates sit just 31 days apart, narrower than for most cities on these pages. Spring in St. Paul rarely surprises by much.

When is the first frost in St. Paul?

A first freeze on or before October 2 happens one fall in ten. By October 16 half of years have had one, and by October 29 nine years in ten have.

Just 27 days separate the early and late dates, tighter than most cities on these pages.

The growing season in St. Paul

A little less room than the middle of these pages, so count the days before you choose a variety. There is little difference between a typical season (174 days) and a short one (154 days) in St. Paul: 20 days, less than in most of the cities covered here.

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.

When a hard freeze reaches St. Paul

The two freezes sit close together here. The typical hard freeze reaches St. Paul on October 27, 11 days after the first frost, and ends on April 13, 11 days ahead of the last. At the edges, a 28°F night on or after April 28 happens one spring in ten and one by October 11 one fall in ten; the nine-in-ten dates are April 1 and November 8.

Using St. Paul's frost dates in the garden

In St. Paul the University of New Hampshire Extension count lands like this, measured from the typical last frost on April 24: lettuce from March 27 to April 3, cabbage on March 27, seed potatoes from April 10 to April 17, then peppers on May 8 and beans from April 24. Peas have no frost-based date in the University of New Hampshire Extension sheet: they go in as soon as the soil thaws.

From the late date, May 10, every tender crop moves back 16 days; that buys protection against a spring only one year in ten brings.

Of the 34 crops in the fall planner, 25 still have a July-or-later last planting day in St. Paul once NC State Extension's days to harvest and University of Georgia Extension's harvest allowance of 18 days are counted back from frost. The other 9 do not. The slowest crop that still fits is cabbage, which needs 93 days before the early first frost and so must be in by July 1.

Worked example: a tomato plan for St. Paul

Suppose you want tomatoes in St. Paul. University of New Hampshire Extension says to set transplants out one to two weeks after the last frost. Counting from the typical date, April 24, the window runs from May 1 to May 8. Counting from the late date, May 10, it moves to May 17 through May 24, which is 16 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 22 to April 5 for sowing indoors.

That leaves 131 days against 75 to 85 days for the plants to reach harvest, so even the late schedule fits in an early-frost year with 46 days to spare.

The weather station behind these dates

2.7 miles south-east of the city's internal point, the station is close but not on top of St. Paul.

Its elevation is about 700 feet. Of the 100 stations behind these pages, 45 sit higher and 53 lower. Its completeness flag is R, which NOAA uses for a representative record.

The Census Gazetteer gives no elevation for St. Paul itself, so this page cannot tell you whether your garden sits above or below the station. If it is noticeably higher or lower, compare the stations the frost dates tool lists nearby and lean toward the colder reading.

Nearby cities and their frost dates

Minneapolis, MN is only 8.1 miles away and shares the region, while the other two cities below are farther out and show how the dates change with distance.

• Minneapolis, MN (8.1 miles, west): its last frost falls within a few days of St. Paul's, and the season is within about a week of St. Paul's. Its typical dates are April 23 and October 16, with 175 days frost-free.
• Sioux Falls, SD (204 miles, south-west): spring frost lingers 7 days longer than in St. Paul, and the frost-free season is 17 days shorter than St. Paul's. Its typical dates are May 1 and October 6, with 157 days frost-free.
• Madison, WI (223 miles, south-east): spring frost lingers 7 days longer than in St. Paul, and it has 13 days less without frost. Its typical dates are May 1 and October 9, with 161 days frost-free.

Put the frost dates to work

The frost dates tool opens on this station and lists every probability date, not just the ones above. From there, the spring planting planner and fall planting planner turn the dates into crop lists for St. Paul, and the hardiness zone lookup answers what will overwinter.

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

Where these numbers come from

NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020 (doi:10.25921/4ek7-fk11) supply every frost date here, unchanged from the station's record, and NOAA's documentation defines the probabilities. St. Paul 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 307,465 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. See how we source every figure for the checks behind them.

These dates describe odds over many years, not next week's weather. Look at the forecast before you plant, and keep a sheet or row cover ready for a night that does not follow the odds.