Altamont, NY 12009 Frost Dates
12009, near Altamont, NY: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/07, about 252 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/07, roughly 153 days after the last spring frost.
Altamont sits in USDA Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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
Altamont's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/07 isn't a guarantee
05/07 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/22 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/23 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Altamont against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 153 frost-free days, Altamont places 34,554 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NY, it ranks 1,446 of 1,951.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 12009: the frost range, on how to read the range around Altamont's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Altamont can differ from the 12009 normal.