Melbourne, KY 45255 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Melbourne, KY?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/16, roughly 231 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/25, about 190 frost-free days later.
Melbourne 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.
What to do before the first frost
About 8 weeks of growing season left in Melbourne before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
Why 04/16 isn't a guarantee
04/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/02 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/03 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Melbourne compares
At roughly 190 frost-free days, Melbourne places 21,277 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within KY, it ranks 552 of 909.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6b and Melbourne's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Melbourne's dates instead of trusting one.