Stanford, MT 59447 Frost Dates
Stanford, MT: when does the frost end?
Around 05/25 is the usual last spring frost, about 270 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/21, roughly 118 days after the last spring frost.
Stanford sits in USDA Zone 4b (-25 to -20°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 3 weeks until Stanford's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/25 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/10 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Stanford against the rest of the dataset
Stanford's growing season runs about 118 days, ranking 39,225 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MT, it ranks 233 of 392.
Learn more
Before leaning on 59447's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Stanford can differ from the 59447 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 4b and Stanford's frost date answer different questions.