Dixon, KY 42409 Frost Dates
42409, near Dixon, KY: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/07, roughly 222 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/28, roughly 203 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7a (0 to 5°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Dixon, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Dixon'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 04/07 isn't a guarantee
04/07 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/23 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/24 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Dixon against the rest of the dataset
Dixon's growing season runs about 203 days, ranking 16,993 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within KY, it ranks 246 of 909.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 42409: the frost range, on how to read the range around Dixon's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Dixon can differ from the 42409 normal.