Johnson, VT 05656 Frost Dates
05656, near Johnson, VT: the frost window
Around 05/09 is the usual last spring frost, about 254 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 142 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 Johnson, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Johnson'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
05/09 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/27 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/24 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Johnson against the rest of the dataset
About 142 days separate Johnson's last and first frost, putting it 36,764 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within VT, it ranks 140 of 330.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 05656: local microclimates, on what one yard in Johnson can differ from the 05656 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Johnson's frost date answer different questions.