Climatch

Land with a climate like Ames

🇺🇸Ames, Iowa, United States

The towns with the closest growing climate to Ames are Waterloo, United States (99% match), Cedar Rapids and Dubuque. About 405,000 sq mi of land in 5 countries matches 80% or better, most of it in Iowa, United States, Illinois, United States and Ohio, United States.The towns with the closest growing climate to Ames are Waterloo, United States (99% match), Cedar Rapids and Dubuque. About 1.0 million km² of land in 5 countries matches 80% or better, most of it in Iowa, United States, Illinois, United States and Ohio, United States.

Your growing climate

Zone 6a · 173 frost-free days · 3,198 chill hours · 34 in rainZone 6a · 173 frost-free days · 3,198 chill hours · 859 mm rain

What grows in Ames →

Regions with the most land like yours

  1. 1

    🇺🇸Iowa, United States

    48k sq mi124k km² matching 80% or better

    For example Waterloo (99), Marion (99)

  2. 2

    🇺🇸Illinois, United States

    39k sq mi101k km² matching 80% or better

    For example Freeport (99), Machesney Park (99)

  3. 3

    🇺🇸Ohio, United States

    32k sq mi83k km² matching 80% or better

    For example Bowling Green (92), Defiance (92)

  4. 4

    🇨🇦Ontario, Canada

    6,600 sq mi17k km² matching 80% or better

    For example LaSalle (88), Tecumseh (86)

  5. 5

    🇷🇺Stavropol Kray, Russia

    2,100 sq mi5,600 km² matching 80% or better

    For example Svobody (84), Goryachevodskiy (84)

  6. 6

    🇷🇴Mureș County, Romania

    1,900 sq mi4,800 km² matching 80% or better

    For example Târnăveni (84), Târgu Mureş (84)

  7. 7

    🇷🇴Cluj County, Romania

    1,400 sq mi3,700 km² matching 80% or better

    For example Câmpia Turzii (83), Turda (82)

  8. 8

    🇷🇴Alba County, Romania

    1,200 sq mi3,200 km² matching 80% or better

    For example Blaj (81), Ocna Mureş (79)

  9. 9

    🇷🇺Kabardino-Balkariya Republic, Russia

    1,100 sq mi2,800 km² matching 80% or better

    For example Dugulubgey (84), Baksan (84)

  10. 10

    🇷🇺Ingushetiya Republic, Russia

    900 sq mi2,300 km² matching 80% or better

    For example Kantyshevo (86), Surkhakhi (86)

  11. 11

    🇺🇦Chernivtsi, Ukraine

    400 sq mi1,000 km² matching 80% or better

    For example Chernivtsi (78)

  12. 12

    🇨🇦Quebec, Canada

    200 sq mi500 km² matching 80% or better

    For example Ville-Marie (79), Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (79)

Regions are states and provinces, counting land within 75 km of a town. At most three per country, so the list covers the world.

Closest towns

  1. 1

    🇺🇸WaterlooIowa, United States

    Zone 5b · 173 frost-free days · 3,254 chill hours · 35 in rainZone 5b · 173 frost-free days · 3,254 chill hours · 901 mm rain

    Shares 19 of your 20 great-fit crops

    99%match
  2. 2

    🇺🇸Cedar RapidsIowa, United States

    Zone 6a · 179 frost-free days · 3,143 chill hours · 37 in rainZone 6a · 179 frost-free days · 3,143 chill hours · 929 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    99%match
  3. 3

    🇺🇸DubuqueIowa, United States

    Zone 6a · 178 frost-free days · 3,214 chill hours · 35 in rainZone 6a · 178 frost-free days · 3,214 chill hours · 883 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    99%match
  4. 4

    🇺🇸FreeportIllinois, United States

    Zone 6a · 166 frost-free days · 3,265 chill hours · 35 in rainZone 6a · 166 frost-free days · 3,265 chill hours · 889 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    99%match
  5. 5

    🇺🇸IndianolaIowa, United States

    Zone 6a · 181 frost-free days · 3,057 chill hours · 35 in rainZone 6a · 181 frost-free days · 3,057 chill hours · 893 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    99%match
  6. 6

    🇺🇸RockfordIllinois, United States

    Zone 6a · 175 frost-free days · 3,211 chill hours · 37 in rainZone 6a · 175 frost-free days · 3,211 chill hours · 941 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    99%match
  7. 7

    🇺🇸JanesvilleWisconsin, United States

    Zone 6a · 165 frost-free days · 3,279 chill hours · 35 in rainZone 6a · 165 frost-free days · 3,279 chill hours · 887 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    99%match
  8. 8

    🇺🇸ClintonIowa, United States

    Zone 6a · 181 frost-free days · 3,131 chill hours · 37 in rainZone 6a · 181 frost-free days · 3,131 chill hours · 950 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    99%match
  9. 9

    🇺🇸DixonIllinois, United States

    Zone 6a · 177 frost-free days · 3,179 chill hours · 38 in rainZone 6a · 177 frost-free days · 3,179 chill hours · 970 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    99%match
  10. 10

    🇺🇸Sioux CityIowa, United States

    Zone 5b · 172 frost-free days · 3,215 chill hours · 27 in rainZone 5b · 172 frost-free days · 3,215 chill hours · 691 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    99%match
  11. 11

    🇺🇸Mason CityIowa, United States

    Zone 5b · 166 frost-free days · 3,411 chill hours · 34 in rainZone 5b · 166 frost-free days · 3,411 chill hours · 856 mm rain

    Shares 19 of your 20 great-fit crops

    98%match
  12. 12

    🇺🇸La CrosseWisconsin, United States

    Zone 5b · 173 frost-free days · 3,324 chill hours · 31 in rainZone 5b · 173 frost-free days · 3,324 chill hours · 790 mm rain

    Shares 19 of your 20 great-fit crops

    98%match
  13. 13

    🇺🇸MadisonWisconsin, United States

    Zone 6a · 167 frost-free days · 3,316 chill hours · 34 in rainZone 6a · 167 frost-free days · 3,316 chill hours · 853 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    97%match
  14. 14

    🇺🇸WatertownWisconsin, United States

    Zone 6a · 165 frost-free days · 3,338 chill hours · 35 in rainZone 6a · 165 frost-free days · 3,338 chill hours · 887 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    97%match
  15. 15

    🇺🇸DeKalbIllinois, United States

    Zone 6a · 177 frost-free days · 3,188 chill hours · 38 in rainZone 6a · 177 frost-free days · 3,188 chill hours · 961 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    97%match
  16. 16

    🇺🇸NorfolkNebraska, United States

    Zone 6a · 167 frost-free days · 3,173 chill hours · 27 in rainZone 6a · 167 frost-free days · 3,173 chill hours · 681 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    97%match
  17. 17

    🇺🇸WinonaMinnesota, United States

    Zone 5b · 165 frost-free days · 3,388 chill hours · 32 in rainZone 5b · 165 frost-free days · 3,388 chill hours · 813 mm rain

    Shares 18 of your 20 great-fit crops

    96%match
  18. 18

    🇺🇸FremontNebraska, United States

    Zone 6a · 178 frost-free days · 3,043 chill hours · 30 in rainZone 6a · 178 frost-free days · 3,043 chill hours · 767 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    96%match
  19. 19

    🇺🇸New LenoxIllinois, United States

    Zone 6b · 184 frost-free days · 3,056 chill hours · 39 in rainZone 6b · 184 frost-free days · 3,056 chill hours · 998 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops

    95%match
  20. 20

    🇺🇸MilwaukeeWisconsin, United States

    Zone 6b · 179 frost-free days · 3,232 chill hours · 33 in rainZone 6b · 179 frost-free days · 3,232 chill hours · 849 mm rain

    Shares 20 of your 20 great-fit crops · Also great there: wine grapes

    95%match

Any town over 15,000 people, skipping those within 75 km of you. ↻ = seasons flipped across the equator.

How matching works

We compare all twelve months of average highs and lows, rain, humidity and sunshine, the same way as Climatch's places-like search, but weighted for growing: winter lows count most, since frost, chill and hardiness decide which perennials survive, then summer highs and rain. Humidity counts least.

Scores show how unusual a match this close is: 80 or better is closer than all but about 2% of random pairs of places. Across the equator seasons are lined up (↻), so a southern farm's January is compared with a northern July. Climate is only part of it: check soil, water and day length (it matters for photoperiod crops) before buying land.

Looking for land?

We're building detailed reports on land like Ames: frost risk year by year, water, and how each match's climate is shifting by 2050.

We'll only use your email for the report and related updates.

Climate data: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages (Abatzoglou, J.T. et al., 2018, Scientific Data 5:170191). Humidity is derived from TerraClimate vapor pressure; “sunshine” is solar radiation.

Places: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap.

Grower tools: crop ranges from FAO ECOCROP and university extension guides (cited per crop). Daily weather, frost dates and chill are estimated from the monthly averages; chill portions use the Dynamic Model (Fishman, Erez & Couvillon, 1987), hardiness zones follow the USDA definition.