What USDA hardiness zone is Pike County, Kentucky?

Every ZIP code in Pike County, Kentucky is USDA hardiness zone 7a, from the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

When is the last spring frost in Pike County, Kentucky?

The median last spring freeze runs April 8 – April 29 across the 6 NOAA weather stations serving Pike County, Kentucky, from NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals. Half of years freeze later than the median.

Kentucky

Planting zones in Pike County, Kentucky

Every ZIP code in this county is USDA zone 7a — so unlike most of the places people look up, there is one right answer here and it holds wherever you are in the county.

USDA zone 7a The same in all 37 ZIP codes

ZIP codes 37 37 have a NOAA station within range

Weather stations 6 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 787 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes Pike County, Kentucky as a whole. Hardiness zones and freeze dates are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact — enter it and this page will tell you your zone, which NOAA station it comes from and how far away that station is.

The growing season in Pike County is closing

Nothing in the 32-crop table still has time to mature here. The first fall freeze normally arrives October 16 – November 2 across the 6 NOAA stations serving this county .

Your next season already has a date

The first job of it is 🧅 Green Onions, start indoors, around February 11 – March 4 — counted back from a last spring freeze of April 8 – April 29 here.

Every spring date for your ZIP →

These are ranges across the whole county. The ZIP lookup above gives the dates from your own nearest station instead.

All 6 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 6 NOAA stations serving this county counts April 29 – October 16 as growing season (170 days). Widening to any single station gives April 8 – November 2 (208 days).

That is a 38-day difference inside one county — which is why this page gives ranges rather than a single planting date. The ZIP lookup above resolves it to one station.

Your freeze dates

Last spring freeze April 8 – April 29

First fall freeze October 16 – November 2

Across the 6 NOAA stations serving this county. These are medians — half of years freeze later than the date shown — so treat the later end of each range as the cautious one.

The growing season runs 169–206 days depending which station you are nearest, as published by NOAA rather than computed from the dates above. Summer highs average 80.7–87.2 °F in June–August. Summer rain over the same months runs 14.3–15.1" across those 4 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. At the middle station that is covered, so watering in Pike County is for the gaps between storms rather than the whole season. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 83 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.

Every ZIP code in Pike County

Zones are published per ZIP code, not per county, so this is the exact answer rather than the county's average. The station column is the nearest one to that ZIP code's centroid and how far away it is — the same figure the tools use, shown here so you can see which ZIP codes are well covered and which are reaching.

ZIP code	USDA zone	Nearest NOAA station	Distance
41501	7a	Williamson, WV	28.2 km
41503	7a	Williamson, WV	1.6 km
41512	7a	Clintwood 1W, VA	11.9 km
41513	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	8.4 km
41514	7a	Williamson, WV	3.8 km
41519	7a	Williamson, WV	10.8 km
41522	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	10.1 km
41524	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	16.9 km
41526	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	25.2 km
41527	7a	Williamson, WV	4.8 km
41528	7a	Williamson, WV	17.8 km
41531	7a	Williamson, WV	9.5 km
41534	7a	Clintwood 1W, VA	14.7 km
41535	7a	Williamson, WV	8.9 km
41538	7a	Clintwood 1W, VA	19.6 km
41539	7a	Williamson, WV	19.4 km
41540	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	12.5 km
41543	7a	Williamson, WV	13.9 km
41544	7a	Williamson, WV	12.5 km
41547	7a	Williamson, WV	21.9 km
41548	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	10.2 km
41553	7a	Grundy, VA	23.0 km
41554	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	16.2 km
41555	7a	Williamson, WV	15.1 km
41557	7a	Williamson, WV	24.0 km
41558	7a	Williamson, WV	16.0 km
41559	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	13.3 km
41560	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	27.9 km
41562	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	20.3 km
41563	7a	Clintwood 1W, VA	9.7 km
41564	7a	Williamson, WV	11.0 km
41566	7a	Breaks Interstate Park, VA	16.0 km
41567	7a	Williamson, WV	11.6 km
41568	7a	Rd Bailey Lake, WV	22.0 km
41571	7a	Williamson, WV	15.7 km
41572	7a	Clintwood 1W, VA	23.1 km
41659	7a	Prestonsburg 3Wsw, KY	22.2 km

ZIP-code positions are area centroids, so a large rural ZIP code's listed distance is measured from the middle of its area rather than from any particular address in it.

When to start seeds in Pike County

Every date below is anchored on the last spring freeze at each station and reported as a range across all 6 of them, because no one station speaks for the county.

Crop	Job	When	Offset
🧅 Green Onions	Start indoors	February 11 – March 4	8 wk before
🌶️ Peppers	Start indoors	February 11 – March 4	8 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Start indoors	February 25 – March 18	6 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Start indoors	February 25 – March 18	6 wk before
🥬 Collards	Start indoors	February 25 – March 18	6 wk before
🥬 Kale	Start indoors	February 25 – March 18	6 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Start indoors	February 25 – March 18	6 wk before
🫛 Peas	Direct sow	February 25 – March 18	6 wk before
🥬 Spinach	Direct sow	February 25 – March 18	6 wk before
🍠 Sweet Potato	Start indoors	February 25 – March 18	6 wk before
🍅 Tomatoes	Start indoors	February 25 – March 18	6 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Start indoors	March 4 – March 25	5 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Start indoors	March 4 – March 25	5 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Start indoors	March 4 – March 25	5 wk before
🥬 Arugula	Direct sow	March 11 – April 1	4 wk before
🥬 Baby Salad Greens	Direct sow	March 11 – April 1	4 wk before
🥕 Beets	Direct sow	March 11 – April 1	4 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Direct sow	March 11 – April 1	4 wk before
🥬 Mustard Greens	Direct sow	March 11 – April 1	4 wk before
🌶️ Okra	Start indoors	March 11 – April 1	4 wk before
🌱 Radishes	Direct sow	March 11 – April 1	4 wk before
🥔 Turnips	Direct sow	March 11 – April 1	4 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Set out	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥕 Carrots	Direct sow	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Direct sow	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Set out	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥒 Cucumbers	Start indoors	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Set out	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Direct sow	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Set out	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Direct sow	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Set out	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Direct sow	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🎃 Pumpkins	Start indoors	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🎃 Summer Squash	Start indoors	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🎃 Winter Squash	Start indoors	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥒 Zucchini	Start indoors	March 18 – April 8	3 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Direct sow	March 25 – April 15	2 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Set out	March 25 – April 15	2 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Set out	March 25 – April 15	2 wk before
🌿 Cilantro	Direct sow	March 25 – April 15	2 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Set out	March 25 – April 15	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Direct sow	March 25 – April 15	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Set out	March 25 – April 15	2 wk before
🌿 Dill	Direct sow	April 1 – April 22	1 wk before
🫘 Bush Beans	Direct sow	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Set out	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Direct sow	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Set out	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Direct sow	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Set out	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🌽 Sweet Corn	Direct sow	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🍅 Tomatoes	Set out	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Direct sow	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Set out	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Direct sow	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Set out	April 15 – May 6	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Direct sow	April 22 – May 13	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Direct sow	April 22 – May 13	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Set out	April 22 – May 13	2 wk after
🌶️ Peppers	Set out	April 22 – May 13	2 wk after
🫘 Southern Peas	Direct sow	April 22 – May 13	2 wk after
🍠 Sweet Potato	Set out	April 22 – May 13	2 wk after

Offsets are published guidance; the dates they land on are computed from measured NOAA normals. The seed-starting tool does this for your own ZIP code and counts the days.

What lives through a zone 7a winter

Of 74 perennial edibles, 58 come through a zone 7a winter — and 1 fail here for being too warm rather than too cold, needing more winter chill than this county gets or more heat than they tolerate. Among the ones that work: Cranberry, Honeyberry, Apple, Aronia, Black Currant, Elderberry, Gooseberry, Summer Raspberry.

Hardiness ranges are a judgement, published by growers rather than measured; the zone they are compared against is measured. On a warm-end verdict, check with your local extension service — a coastal zone 8 and an inland zone 8 are not the same summer.

Cautious — shortens the seasonMedian across stationsOptimistic

Last spring freeze: Plan to May 15 to be careful. Median April 8 – April 29 across 6 stations; March 26 is the optimistic end.
First fall freeze: Plan to October 4 to be careful. Median October 16 – November 2 across 6 stations; November 13 is the optimistic end.

NOAA publishes these as probabilities, not averages — the middle figure is a median, so half of years fall either side of it. The cautious end is the 10% tail: in roughly nine years in ten the freeze falls on the safe side of it.

The 6 stations behind these numbers

All 6 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 59 km north to south. Every one is named with its identifier in the station list below — this page does not single one out, because no one station speaks for a whole county.

A relative sketch, not a map with a projection: longitude is adjusted for latitude so the shape is not stretched, and there is no basemap. For the one station nearest a specific address, with its real distance, use the ZIP lookup above.

These are the stations this county's ZIP codes actually cite as nearest — not a claim that each one sits inside its boundary, since a rural ZIP legitimately reaches over it. Every figure above comes from them, and each is named so you can check it.

Station	NOAA ID	Last spring freeze	First fall freeze	Season
Breaks Interstate Park, VA	USC00440982	April 22	October 23	182 days
Clintwood 1W, VA	USC00441825	April 29	October 16	169 days
Grundy, VA	USC00443640	April 21	October 26	189 days
Prestonsburg 3Wsw, KY	USC00156563	April 23	October 23	183 days
Rd Bailey Lake, WV	USC00467372	April 15	October 27	194 days
Williamson, WV	USC00469610	April 8	November 2	206 days

These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.

Your own ZIP

Work out your own dates

This page describes a whole county. Every tool below answers for one ZIP code, which is the grain the underlying data is published at.

Other places to compare

Pike County sits in Kentucky. That page carries the whole state's zone spread, its metro areas, and every other county in it with a page here.

More of Kentucky

Counties with the same zones — 7a

Matched on the exact zone set, not a dominant zone, so the winter answer on these pages really is the same one as here.

Gear

If you want to act on this

Each link opens an Amazon search rather than a product we picked. We have not tested these and do not rank them — the search is the honest version, and you choose.

Row cover and frost clothThe season here closes at the first fall freeze dated above — a cover buys back some of those days at the end.
MulchFor the perennials nearest their cold limit in zone 7a, where an insulated crown is what decides whether they come back.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. That costs you nothing extra, and it buys no influence over anything on this site: the dates come from NOAA normals and the zones from the USDA, and no product affects either.

Sources

Where these numbers come from

Hardiness zones are the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. Freeze dates and growing-season lengths are NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, taken per station and cited above by name and NOAA ID.

County boundaries come from the Census ZCTA-to-county relation, which is what places each ZIP code — and which treats parishes, boroughs and census areas as county equivalents. No station is chosen to represent this county: every range above is taken across all of them and the count is stated, because picking one would be a judgement dressed as a measurement.