Drakesboro, KY 42324 Frost Dates
42324, near Drakesboro, KY: the frost window
Around 04/15 is the usual last spring frost, about 230 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/20, roughly 187 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Drakesboro 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
Drakesboro's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/15 isn't a guarantee
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 05/03 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Drakesboro against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 187 frost-free days, Drakesboro places 22,562 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within KY, it ranks 681 of 909.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 42324: local microclimates, on what one yard in Drakesboro can differ from the 42324 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Drakesboro's frost date answer different questions.