Hunter, NY 12407 Frost Dates
12407, near Hunter, 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 Hunter 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
Hunter'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.
Hunter against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 137 frost-free days, Hunter places 37,567 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NY, it ranks 1,816 of 1,951.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 12407: the frost range, on how to read the range around Hunter's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Hunter can differ from the 12407 normal.