Franklin, NH 03269 Frost Dates
03269, near Franklin, NH: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/07, about 252 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/03, roughly 148 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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 Franklin, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Franklin's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/07 isn't a guarantee
05/07 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/27 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/20 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Franklin against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 148 frost-free days, Franklin places 35,697 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NH, it ranks 145 of 260.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 03269: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Franklin's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Franklin's dates instead of trusting one.