Central Falls, RI 02864 Frost Dates
02864, near Central Falls, RI: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/30, about 245 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/09, roughly 162 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 6b (-5 to 0°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Central Falls, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Central Falls's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/30 isn't a guarantee
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Central Falls against the rest of the dataset
About 162 days separate Central Falls's last and first frost, putting it 31,646 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within RI, it ranks 75 of 79.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 02864: local microclimates, on what one yard in Central Falls can differ from the 02864 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Central Falls's frost date answer different questions.