Stamford, NY 12131 Frost Dates
12131, near Stamford, NY: the frost window
Around 05/18 is the usual last spring frost, about 263 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/02, roughly 137 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Stamford in Zone 5b (-15 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
Stamford'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/18 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/01 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Stamford against the rest of the dataset
Stamford's growing season runs about 137 days, ranking 37,530 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NY, it ranks 1,810 of 1,951.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 12131: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Stamford's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Stamford's dates instead of trusting one.