Beacon, NY 12508 Frost Dates
12508, near Beacon, NY: the frost window
Around 04/10 is the usual last spring frost, about 225 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/01, roughly 204 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Beacon in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
Beacon's growing season runs out in roughly 9 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/10 isn't a guarantee
04/10 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/31 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/24 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Beacon against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 204 frost-free days, Beacon places 16,534 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NY, it ranks 293 of 1,951.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 12508: local microclimates, on what one yard in Beacon can differ from the 12508 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Beacon's frost date answer different questions.