Ballston Spa, NY 12863 Frost Dates
12863, near Ballston Spa, NY: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/02, about 247 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/07, roughly 158 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ballston Spa 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
Ballston Spa's growing season runs out in roughly 6 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
05/02 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/21 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/17 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Ballston Spa against the rest of the dataset
Ballston Spa's growing season runs about 158 days, ranking 32,970 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NY, it ranks 1,163 of 1,951.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 12863: the frost range, on how to read the range around Ballston Spa's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Ballston Spa can differ from the 12863 normal.