Chesterfield, IN 46017 Frost Dates
46017, near Chesterfield, IN: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/19, about 234 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/23, roughly 186 days after the last spring frost.
Chesterfield sits in USDA Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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
Chesterfield'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.
Why 04/19 isn't a guarantee
04/19 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 05/05 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Chesterfield against the rest of the dataset
About 186 days separate Chesterfield's last and first frost, putting it 22,844 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IN, it ranks 332 of 927.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 46017: local microclimates, on what one yard in Chesterfield can differ from the 46017 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Chesterfield's frost date answer different questions.