New York, NY 11697 Frost Dates
11697, near New York, NY: the frost window
Around 04/02 is the usual last spring frost, about 217 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/14, roughly 226 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts New York in Zone 7b (5 to 10°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
New York's growing season runs out in roughly 11 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/02 isn't a guarantee
04/02 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/20 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/13 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
New York against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 226 frost-free days, New York places 11,120 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NY, it ranks 102 of 1,951.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 11697: the frost range, on how to read the range around New York's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in New York can differ from the 11697 normal.