Hartford, CT 06040 Frost Dates
Hartford, CT: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/17, roughly 232 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/26, roughly 191 days after the last spring frost.
Hartford sits in USDA Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
With roughly 8 weeks until Hartford's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 04/17 isn't a guarantee
04/17 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/01 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Hartford against the rest of the dataset
Hartford's growing season runs about 191 days, ranking 20,621 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CT, it ranks 133 of 391.
Learn more
Before leaning on 06040's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Hartford's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Hartford can differ from the 06040 normal.