Kingston, NY 12487 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Kingston, NY?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/14, roughly 259 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 09/28, about 134 frost-free days later.
Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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 Kingston, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 4 weeks of growing season left in Kingston before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
Why 05/14 isn't a guarantee
05/14 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/30 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 06/01 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Kingston compares
At roughly 134 frost-free days, Kingston places 37,948 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NY, it ranks 1,851 of 1,951.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Kingston can differ from the 12487 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6a and Kingston's frost date answer different questions.