Barre, VT 05679 Frost Dates
05679, near Barre, VT: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/16, roughly 261 days out. 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.
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 05/02 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Barre against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 136 frost-free days, Barre places 37,664 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within VT, it ranks 217 of 330.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 05679: local microclimates, on what one yard in Barre can differ from the 05679 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Barre's frost date answer different questions.