FrostDateCheck

Hamilton, IN 46742 Frost Dates

When can you plant in Hamilton, IN?

Zone 6a

Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/30, roughly 245 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/16, about 167 frost-free days later.

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 Hamilton, not a forecast for this year.

What to do before the first frost

About 7 weeks of growing season left in Hamilton before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.

The actual range around Hamilton's last frost

04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/17 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/15 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.

How Hamilton compares

At roughly 167 frost-free days, Hamilton places 30,048 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IN, it ranks 844 of 927.

Learn more

local microclimates covers what one yard in Hamilton can differ from the 46742 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6a and Hamilton's frost date answer different questions.