Kettering, OH 45440 Frost Dates
45440, near Kettering, OH: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/17, about 232 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/26, roughly 192 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Kettering in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
Kettering'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/17 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/03 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/06 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Kettering against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 192 frost-free days, Kettering places 20,147 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within OH, it ranks 209 of 1,383.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 45440: the frost range, on how to read the range around Kettering's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Kettering can differ from the 45440 normal.