Bristol, CT 06010 Frost Dates
06010, near Bristol, CT: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/25, roughly 240 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/18, roughly 172 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Bristol in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
Bristol's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
The actual range around Bristol's last frost
04/25 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/10 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Bristol against the rest of the dataset
Bristol's growing season runs about 172 days, ranking 28,145 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CT, it ranks 322 of 391.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 06010: local microclimates, on what one yard in Bristol can differ from the 06010 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Bristol's frost date answer different questions.