Westminster, VT 05346 Frost Dates
05346, near Westminster, VT: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/08, about 253 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/03, roughly 149 days after the last spring frost.
Westminster 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.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Westminster'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 05/08 isn't a guarantee
05/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/22 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Westminster against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 149 frost-free days, Westminster places 35,572 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within VT, it ranks 83 of 330.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 05346: local microclimates, on what one yard in Westminster can differ from the 05346 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Westminster's frost date answer different questions.