Richmondville, NY 12197 Frost Dates
12197, near Richmondville, NY: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/06, roughly 251 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/06, roughly 152 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Richmondville 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
Richmondville'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/06 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/23 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/24 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Richmondville against the rest of the dataset
Richmondville's growing season runs about 152 days, ranking 34,818 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NY, it ranks 1,497 of 1,951.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 12197: local microclimates, on what one yard in Richmondville can differ from the 12197 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Richmondville's frost date answer different questions.