Franklin, NH 03260 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Franklin, NH, ZIP 03260
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/15, about 260 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 09/27, about 135 frost-free days later.
Franklin sits in USDA Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5b around Franklin has about 4 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/30 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/29 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Franklin compares
At roughly 135 frost-free days, Franklin places 37,835 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NH, it ranks 214 of 260.
Learn more
the frost range explains how to read the range around Franklin's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates explains what one yard in Franklin can differ from the 03260 normal.