Providence, RI 02904 Frost Dates
02904, near Providence, RI: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/11, roughly 226 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/30, roughly 199 days after the last spring frost.
Providence sits in USDA Zone 6b (-5 to 0°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Providence's growing season runs out in roughly 9 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/11 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/23 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Providence against the rest of the dataset
About 199 days separate Providence's last and first frost, putting it 17,975 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within RI, it ranks 15 of 79.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 02904: the frost range, on how to read the range around Providence's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Providence can differ from the 02904 normal.