Providence, RI 02908 Frost Dates
02908, near Providence, RI: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/11, about 226 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/30, roughly 199 days after the last spring frost.
Providence sits in USDA Zone 7a (0 to 5°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.
The actual range around Providence's last frost
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
Providence's growing season runs about 199 days, ranking 17,978 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within RI, it ranks 18 of 79.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 02908: local microclimates, on what one yard in Providence can differ from the 02908 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Providence's frost date answer different questions.