Barre, VT 05086 Frost Dates
05086, near Barre, VT: the frost window
Around 05/14 is the usual last spring frost, about 259 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 Barre in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
Barre'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/14 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/30 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/29 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Barre against the rest of the dataset
About 136 days separate Barre's last and first frost, putting it 37,657 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within VT, it ranks 210 of 330.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 05086: the frost range, on how to read the range around Barre's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Barre can differ from the 05086 normal.