Shoals, IN 47581 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Shoals, IN?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/15, roughly 230 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/23, about 189 frost-free days later.
Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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 Shoals, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 8 weeks of growing season left in Shoals before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Shoals's last frost
04/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/31 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/02 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Shoals compares
Shoals's growing season runs about 189 days, ranking 21,679 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IN, it ranks 275 of 927.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Shoals can differ from the 47581 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6b and Shoals's frost date answer different questions.