Silver Lake, IN 46982 Frost Dates
46982, near Silver Lake, IN: the frost window
Around 04/26 is the usual last spring frost, about 241 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/19, roughly 174 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 Silver Lake, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Silver Lake'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.
Why 04/26 isn't a guarantee
04/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Silver Lake against the rest of the dataset
Silver Lake's growing season runs about 174 days, ranking 27,559 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IN, it ranks 673 of 927.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 46982: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Silver Lake's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Silver Lake's dates instead of trusting one.