Albany, NY 12206 Frost Dates
12206, near Albany, NY: the frost window
Around 04/27 is the usual last spring frost, about 242 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/15, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Albany in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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
Albany's growing season runs out in roughly 7 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
04/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/16 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Albany against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 169 frost-free days, Albany places 29,286 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NY, it ranks 779 of 1,951.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 12206: the frost range, on how to read the range around Albany's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Albany can differ from the 12206 normal.