Hunter, NY 12418 Frost Dates
12418, near Hunter, NY: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/29, about 244 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/14, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Hunter, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Hunter'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.
Why 04/29 isn't a guarantee
04/29 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/15 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/13 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Hunter against the rest of the dataset
About 169 days separate Hunter's last and first frost, putting it 29,574 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NY, it ranks 826 of 1,951.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 12418: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Hunter's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Hunter's dates instead of trusting one.