Hunter, NY 12442 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Hunter, NY, ZIP 12442
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/20, roughly 265 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 09/27, about 129 frost-free days later.
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.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5b around Hunter has about 4 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
05/20 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 05/04 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 06/02 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Hunter compares
At roughly 129 frost-free days, Hunter places 38,495 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NY, it ranks 1,912 of 1,951.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Hunter can differ from the 12442 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Hunter's frost date answer different questions.