Otego, NY 13859 Frost Dates
13859, near Otego, NY: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/11, about 256 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/09, roughly 151 days after the last spring frost.
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 Otego, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Otego'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.
Why 05/11 isn't a guarantee
05/11 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/27 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/26 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Otego against the rest of the dataset
Otego's growing season runs about 151 days, ranking 35,103 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NY, it ranks 1,546 of 1,951.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 13859: the frost range, on how to read the range around Otego's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Otego can differ from the 13859 normal.