Frost dates for Indianapolis, Indiana
Half of years have their last spring frost by April 15 — but 1 year in 10 still frosts after May 2.
Every other site gives you one date. A frost date is not a date: it is a percentile from 30 years of records at a nearby weather station, and planting to the median means losing the crop in half of years. Both numbers are below, so you can choose the risk yourself.
The odds
Last spring frost
- Frost this late in 1 year in 10
- May 2
- 1 year in 5
- April 26
- 3 years in 10
- April 21
- 2 years in 5
- April 18
- Half of years (the median)
- April 15
First fall freeze
- Freeze this early in 1 year in 10
- October 13
- 1 year in 5
- October 18
- 3 years in 10
- October 21
- 2 years in 5
- October 24
- Half of years (the median)
- October 26
- Growing season
- about 193 days
- Hardiness zones nearby
- 6a, 6b
Where these numbers come from
NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 Climate Normals, station Indianapolis (USW00093819), at 39.71, -86.28. These are that station's own records, unshifted. The further your garden is from it, the less exactly they describe your ground — the planner resolves the nearest station to your own ZIP and lowers its confidence with distance, rather than presenting one number as if it were measured in your yard.
Cold air also pools in low ground on the clear, still nights when frost happens, so a hollow can freeze while a slope a hundred metres away does not. No table can know that about your garden. Your own logged frosts eventually can.
ZIP codes nearest this station
46077, 46106, 46107, 46112, 46113, 46118, 46122, 46123, 46131, 46142, 46143, 46147, 46149, 46158, 46167, 46168, 46183, 46184, 46201, 46202, 46203, 46204, 46205, 46208, 46214, 46217, 46218, 46219, 46220, 46221, 46222, 46224, 46225, 46226, 46227, 46228, 46231, 46234, 46237, 46240, 46241, 46250, 46254, 46260, 46268, 46278, 46280, 46290.
What can I plant here, and when? →
Nearby stations
The nearest stations, and how their last-frost dates compare — the frost gradient across your area, which no single station shows.
- Greenfield Hcn, IN — last frost by April 19
- Elwood, IN — last frost by April 24
- Cambridge City 3 N Hcn, IN — last frost by April 27
- Danville Hcn, IL — last frost by April 21
- Eaton, OH — last frost by April 25
- Cheviot 3 W, OH — last frost by April 16
Other stations in Indiana.
- Warsaw, IN — last frost by April 28
- Lowell, IN — last frost by April 29
- S Bend, IN — last frost by April 23