Salem, KY 42028 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Salem, KY?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/03, roughly 218 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/30, about 207 frost-free days later.
Salem 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
About 9 weeks of growing season left in Salem before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Salem's last frost
04/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/18 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/21 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Salem compares
At roughly 207 frost-free days, Salem places 15,862 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within KY, it ranks 178 of 909.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Salem can differ from the 42028 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 7a and Salem's frost date answer different questions.