Palmer, KS 66962 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Palmer, KS, ZIP 66962
Around 04/24 is the usual last spring frost, about 239 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/14, about 171 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 Palmer, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 6a around Palmer has about 7 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
Why 04/24 isn't a guarantee
04/24 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/10 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/08 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Palmer compares
At roughly 171 frost-free days, Palmer places 28,840 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within KS, it ranks 662 of 745.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Palmer's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Palmer's dates instead of trusting one.