Ludlow, VT 05056 Frost Dates
05056, near Ludlow, VT: the frost window
Around 05/16 is the usual last spring frost, about 261 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/29, roughly 136 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ludlow in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Ludlow'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.
The actual range around Ludlow's last frost
05/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/31 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Ludlow against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 136 frost-free days, Ludlow places 37,732 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within VT, it ranks 219 of 330.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 05056: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Ludlow's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Ludlow's dates instead of trusting one.