Swanton, VT 05459 Frost Dates
Swanton, VT: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/01, about 246 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 161 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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 Swanton, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 6 weeks until Swanton's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 05/01 isn't a guarantee
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/20 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Swanton against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 161 frost-free days, Swanton places 32,060 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within VT, it ranks 35 of 330.
Learn more
Before leaning on 05459's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Swanton's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Swanton's dates instead of trusting one.