Columbus, OH 43203 Frost Dates
Columbus, OH: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/20, roughly 235 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/24, roughly 185 days after the last spring frost.
Columbus sits in USDA Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
With roughly 8 weeks until Columbus'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
04/20 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/05 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/07 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Columbus against the rest of the dataset
Columbus's growing season runs about 185 days, ranking 22,995 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within OH, it ranks 529 of 1,383.
Learn more
Before leaning on 43203's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6b and Columbus's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Columbus's dates instead of trusting one.