Cincinnati, OH Frost Dates: Last Spring and First Fall Frost

In a typical year the final freeze of spring reaches Cincinnati around April 16, and the first freeze of autumn returns around October 25. NOAA's normals call the frost-free stretch between them 190 days long.

Dates at even odds leave half of all years unprotected. The safer pair for Cincinnati is May 3 in spring, which only one year in ten passes, and October 12 in fall, which one year in ten arrives before. Among the 100 cities covered here, whose median season is 229 days, Cincinnati ranks 76th for length and falls 39 days below the middle.

These dates come from the NOAA weather station Cincinnati Lunken AP (ID USW00093812), 5.3 miles south-east of the Census Bureau's internal point for Cincinnati, at about 490 feet above sea level.

Last spring frost in Cincinnati

Read the table from the top: a freeze on or after May 3 is a one-in-ten spring, after April 16 is a coin toss, and after April 2 is the usual case.

The early and late dates sit just 31 days apart, narrower than for most cities on these pages. Spring in Cincinnati rarely surprises by much.

When is the first frost in Cincinnati?

A first freeze on or before October 12 happens one fall in ten. By October 25 half of years have had one, and by November 5 nine years in ten have.

The early and late fall dates are only 24 days apart, a narrow band next to most cities here, so the first freeze keeps close to its schedule in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati's frost-free season

That is shorter than most places on these pages, so days to maturity on the seed packet matter more than usual. The record runs from 168 days in a short year through 190 days in a typical one to 210 days in a long one, a swing of 22 days below typical that is middling for these pages.

These figures are NOAA's own counts of freeze-free days across its simulated years, which is why they can differ a little from the days between the two typical dates. A night at or below 32°F happens in 100% of years at this station, so frost is a yearly event here.

Hard freeze dates for Cincinnati

NOAA's even-odds hard freeze dates for Cincinnati are November 4 in fall and April 2 in spring, 10 days and 14 days from the matching 32°F dates. One spring in ten still has a 28°F night on or after April 18, and one fall in ten sees the first by October 24.

Planting dates for Cincinnati, counted from the frost dates

In Cincinnati the University of New Hampshire Extension count lands like this, measured from the typical last frost on April 16: lettuce from March 19 to March 26, cabbage on March 19, seed potatoes from April 2 to April 9, then peppers on April 30 and beans from April 16. The University of New Hampshire Extension sheet gives peas no frost count at all; sow them as soon as the soil thaws.

From the late date, May 3, every tender crop moves back 17 days; that buys protection against a spring only one year in ten brings.

Fall crops are counted back from the first frost, using NC State Extension's days to harvest plus University of Georgia Extension's harvest allowance of 18 days. In Cincinnati only 29 of the 34 crops in the fall planner have a last planting day in July or later, and the other 5 would have to go in before then, in spring or early summer. Of the crops that fit, Chinese cabbage is the slowest: 103 days from planting to the early frost, which makes July 1 its last day.

Worked example: setting out tomatoes in Cincinnati

A gardener in Cincinnati who follows University of New Hampshire Extension sets tomato transplants out one to two weeks after the last frost: April 23 to April 30 from the typical date of April 16, or May 10 to May 17 from the late date of May 3, 17 days later.

Seeds start six to eight weeks before the set-out day, so counting back from the first day of the late window gives March 15 to March 29 for sowing indoors.

From the last set-out day to the early first frost on October 12 is 148 days. NC State Extension gives 75 to 85 days, and the longer figure still fits with 63 days to spare.

The weather station behind these dates

The station is 5.3 miles south-east of the Census Bureau's internal point for Cincinnati, near enough to be the city's reference record, though not in the same yard.

At about 490 feet, it ranks above 35 and below 64 of the 100 stations used for these pages. NOAA flags this station's record as standard, the code S, for the data behind its 50% last-frost value.

No elevation is available for Cincinnati in the Census data we saved, so the station's height may or may not match your garden's. Compare nearby stations in the frost dates tool if it does not, and err toward the colder dates.

How Cincinnati's frost dates compare

All three of the closest cities on these pages are within a hundred miles, led by Lexington, KY at 76 miles, so their differences show how much a few miles can move a frost date.

• Lexington, KY, 76 miles to the south: last frost April 13, first frost October 28, 196 days frost-free; its last frost falls within a few days of Cincinnati's, and the season is within about a week of Cincinnati's.
• Louisville, KY (91 miles, south-west): spring frost ends 10 days sooner than in Cincinnati, and it has 19 days more without frost. Its typical dates are April 6 and November 1, with 209 days frost-free.
• Indianapolis, IN lies 98 miles north-west of Cincinnati. Typical last frost April 20, first frost October 21, 183 days between; the last frost is 4 days later than in Cincinnati, and the season is about the same length as Cincinnati's.

Take these dates further

Open the frost dates tool with this station already chosen to see the whole ladder of probability dates, or try the nearby stations in the same list. The spring planting planner and the fall planting planner turn the same dates into a full crop list, and the hardiness zone lookup tells you which perennials will survive the winter.

Looking for another city? The city frost dates index lists every page, grouped by state.

Where these numbers come from

The frost and freeze dates are NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020 (doi:10.25921/4ek7-fk11), copied from the station's own record without adjustment; NOAA's documentation defines each probability. The city and its internal point come from the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer of places, and the ranking by size from the Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 city and town population estimates, which put Cincinnati at 314,915 people.

The planting dates apply the count rules in University of New Hampshire Extension, NC State Extension and University of Georgia Extension to this station's dates, with nothing added. See how we source every figure for the checks behind them.

These dates describe odds over many years, not next week's weather. Look at the forecast before you plant, and keep a sheet or row cover ready for a night that does not follow the odds.