Richmond, KY 40476 Frost Dates
Richmond, KY: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/15, about 230 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/22, roughly 190 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Richmond in Zone 7a (0 to 5°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
With roughly 8 weeks until Richmond's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/15 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 04/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Richmond against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 190 frost-free days, Richmond places 21,035 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within KY, it ranks 531 of 909.
Learn more
Before leaning on 40476's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Richmond can differ from the 40476 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7a and Richmond's frost date answer different questions.