Franklin, IN 46131 Frost Dates
46131, near Franklin, IN: the frost window
Around 04/20 is the usual last spring frost, about 235 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/19, roughly 180 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Franklin 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
Franklin's growing season runs out in roughly 7 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
04/20 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/07 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.
Franklin against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 180 frost-free days, Franklin places 24,796 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IN, it ranks 477 of 927.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 46131: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Franklin's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Franklin's dates instead of trusting one.