Columbia, KY 42720 Frost Dates
Columbia, KY: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/15, roughly 230 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/24, roughly 192 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Columbia 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 Columbia'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 05/02 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Columbia against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 192 frost-free days, Columbia places 20,298 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within KY, it ranks 448 of 909.
Learn more
Before leaning on 42720's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Columbia can differ from the 42720 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7a and Columbia's frost date answer different questions.