Lake Placid, NY 12942 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Lake Placid, NY, ZIP 12942
Around 05/21 is the usual last spring frost, about 266 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 09/24, about 123 frost-free days later.
Zone 4b (-25 to -20°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 Lake Placid, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 4b around Lake Placid 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
05/21 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 05/07 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 06/05 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Lake Placid compares
About 123 days separate Lake Placid's last and first frost, putting it 38,893 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NY, it ranks 1,940 of 1,951.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 4b and Lake Placid's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Lake Placid's dates instead of trusting one.