Richmond, KY 40404 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Richmond, KY, ZIP 40404
Around 04/15 is the usual last spring frost, about 230 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/22, about 190 frost-free days later.
Richmond sits in USDA Zone 7a (0 to 5°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 7a around Richmond has about 8 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
04/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/31 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/30 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Richmond compares
At roughly 190 frost-free days, Richmond places 21,032 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within KY, it ranks 528 of 909.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Richmond can differ from the 40404 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7a and Richmond's frost date answer different questions.