Lexington-Fayette urban county, KY 40503 Frost Dates
40503, near Lexington-Fayette urban county, KY: the frost window
Around 04/13 is the usual last spring frost, about 228 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/28, roughly 196 days after the last spring frost.
Lexington-Fayette urban county 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.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Lexington-Fayette urban county's growing season runs out in roughly 9 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/13 isn't a guarantee
04/13 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/30 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/01 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Lexington-Fayette urban county against the rest of the dataset
Lexington-Fayette urban county's growing season runs about 196 days, ranking 18,864 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within KY, it ranks 344 of 909.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 40503: local microclimates, on what one yard in Lexington-Fayette urban county can differ from the 40503 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Lexington-Fayette urban county's frost date answer different questions.