Lawrence, IN 46216 Frost Dates
46216, near Lawrence, IN: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/18, about 233 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/26, roughly 190 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Lawrence, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Lawrence'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 04/18 isn't a guarantee
04/18 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.
Lawrence against the rest of the dataset
Lawrence's growing season runs about 190 days, ranking 21,018 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IN, it ranks 257 of 927.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 46216: the frost range, on how to read the range around Lawrence's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Lawrence can differ from the 46216 normal.