Yonkers, NY Frost Dates: Last Spring and First Fall Frost

Yonkers gardeners can count on April 20 as the even-odds date for the last spring frost and October 26 as the even-odds date for the first fall frost, which adds up to 189 days without a freeze in a typical year.

Dates at even odds leave half of all years unprotected. The safer pair for Yonkers is May 6 in spring, which only one year in ten passes, and October 10 in fall, which one year in ten arrives before. The median season across the 100 cities on these pages is 229 days; Yonkers comes up 40 days short of it, 77th on the list.

Behind every date on this page is one weather station, Dobbs Ferry-Ardsley (NOAA USC00302129), 4.6 miles north of Yonkers's internal point in the Census Bureau's files and about 200 feet up.

When is the last frost in Yonkers?

Frost is still possible on April 4 in nine springs out of ten and on April 20 in five; only one spring in ten sees a freeze as late as May 6.

From the earliest date to the latest is 32 days, a middling band against the other 100 cities.

When is the first frost in Yonkers?

Expect the first freeze of fall by October 26 in a typical year. One year in ten brings it by October 10, and nine in ten have had it by November 10.

The early and late fall dates are 31 days apart, a typical spread for the cities covered here.

Yonkers's frost-free season

The season is somewhat shorter than the middle of these pages, so a seed packet's days to maturity deserve a second look. A short year costs just 21 days against a typical one (168 days against 189 days), so a season-length plan for Yonkers holds up in most years.

NOAA counts these days from its own simulations, so they will not equal the number of days between the two typical dates exactly. Every winter in the record reached freezing at Dobbs Ferry-Ardsley, so the dates above describe a real yearly event, not a rare one.

When a hard freeze reaches Yonkers

A wide gap separates 32°F from 28°F here: the typical hard freeze arrives 12 days after the first frost in fall (November 7) and leaves 16 days before the last in spring (April 4). Frost-tolerant crops get a long extension at both ends. One spring in ten still has a 28°F night on or after April 20, and one fall in ten sees the first by October 23.

Planting dates for Yonkers, counted from the frost dates

In Yonkers the University of New Hampshire Extension count lands like this, measured from the typical last frost on April 20: lettuce from March 23 to March 30, cabbage on March 23, seed potatoes from April 6 to April 13, then peppers on May 4 and beans from April 20. Peas are the exception to the count: University of New Hampshire Extension says to plant them as soon as the soil thaws, whatever the frost date.

From the late date, May 6, every tender crop moves back 16 days; that buys protection against a spring only one year in ten brings.

Of the 34 crops in the fall planner, 28 still have a July-or-later last planting day in Yonkers once NC State Extension's days to harvest and University of Georgia Extension's harvest allowance of 18 days are counted back from frost. The other 6 do not. The slowest crop that still fits is broccoli, at 98 days, and it has to be planted by July 4 to beat the early date.

Worked example: setting out tomatoes in Yonkers

Suppose you want tomatoes in Yonkers. University of New Hampshire Extension says to set transplants out one to two weeks after the last frost. Counting from the typical date, April 20, the window runs from April 27 to May 4. Counting from the late date, May 6, it moves to May 13 through May 20, which is 16 days later.

Indoors, tomato seeds go in six to eight weeks ahead of set-out; from the first day of the late window that is March 18 to April 1.

That leaves 143 days against 75 to 85 days for the plants to reach harvest, so even the late schedule fits in an early-frost year with 58 days to spare.

About the Dobbs Ferry-Ardsley station

4.6 miles north of the city's internal point, the station is close but not on top of Yonkers.

At about 200 feet, it ranks above 24 and below 75 of the 100 stations used for these pages. NOAA flags this station's record as representative, the code R, for the data behind its 50% last-frost value.

Because the Census file has no elevation for Yonkers, we cannot say how far your yard is above or below this station. When yours is clearly higher or lower, open the nearby stations in the frost dates tool and favor the colder one.

Yonkers compared with nearby cities

Yonkers sits in a cluster: New York, NY is only 20 miles away, and the other two cities below are not much farther, so gaps in their dates come from local setting.

• New York, NY, 20 miles to the south: last frost April 1, first frost November 19, 233 days frost-free; spring frost ends 19 days sooner than in Yonkers, and the frost-free season is 44 days longer than Yonkers's.
• Newark, NJ, 22 miles to the south-west: last frost April 4, first frost November 6, 216 days frost-free; its last frost comes 16 days before Yonkers's, and it has 27 days more without frost.
• Philadelphia, PA (93 miles, south-west): its last frost comes 21 days before Yonkers's, and it has 43 days more without frost. Its typical dates are March 30 and November 17, with 232 days frost-free.

Next steps for Yonkers gardeners

To go beyond the crops above, use the spring planting planner and fall planting planner, both set to this station. The frost dates tool shows the full odds for Yonkers, and the hardiness zone lookup gives the winter-cold zone for your ZIP code.

All the cities on these pages are listed by state on the city frost dates index.

Where these numbers come from

NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020 (doi:10.25921/4ek7-fk11) supply every frost date here, unchanged from the station's record, and NOAA's documentation defines the probabilities. Yonkers and its internal point are listed in the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer of places; its place in the ranking comes from the Vintage 2024 population estimates, which count 211,040 residents.

University of New Hampshire Extension, NC State Extension and University of Georgia Extension supply the planting rules; this page only counts them from the station's dates. The methodology page explains how each figure is checked.

NOAA's dates say how often frost has come, not when it will. Check the forecast before planting and keep a cover on hand.