Chatham, NY 12165 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Chatham, NY, ZIP 12165
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/27, about 242 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/14, about 171 frost-free days later.
Chatham 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.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5b around Chatham has about 7 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/14 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/11 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Chatham compares
At roughly 171 frost-free days, Chatham places 28,705 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NY, it ranks 736 of 1,951.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Chatham can differ from the 12165 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Chatham's frost date answer different questions.