Ludlow, VT 05148 Frost Dates
05148, near Ludlow, VT: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/16, about 261 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/02, roughly 140 days after the last spring frost.
Ludlow sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
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.
Why 05/16 isn't a guarantee
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
About 140 days separate Ludlow's last and first frost, putting it 37,093 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within VT, it ranks 172 of 330.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 05148: the frost range, on how to read the range around Ludlow's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Ludlow can differ from the 05148 normal.