What USDA hardiness zone is Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH?

Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH spans USDA hardiness zones 6b to 7a. 78% of its ZIP codes are zone 7a, so there is no single zone for the metro.

When is the last spring frost in Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH?

The median last spring freeze runs April 8 – May 2 across the 17 NOAA weather stations serving Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, from NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals. Half of years freeze later than the median.

Place guide

Planting zones in Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH

This metro spans USDA zones 6b to 7a, so there is no single zone for Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 78% of its ZIP codes are zone 7a; the rest are not.

USDA zones 6b–7a 2 zones across 69 ZIP codes

ZIP codes 69 69 have a NOAA station within range

Weather stations 17 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 2,916 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH 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 Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH is closing

Nothing in the 32-crop table still has time to mature here. The first fall freeze normally arrives October 11 – November 1 across the 17 NOAA stations serving this metro area .

Your next season already has a date

The first job of it is 🧅 Green Onions, start indoors, around February 11 – March 7 — counted back from a last spring freeze of April 8 – May 2 here.

Every spring date for your ZIP →

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

All 17 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 17 NOAA stations serving this metro area counts May 2 – October 11 as growing season (162 days). Widening to any single station gives April 8 – November 1 (207 days).

That is a 45-day difference inside one metro area — which is why this page gives ranges rather than a single planting date. The ZIP lookup above resolves it to one station.

Which zone you are in depends where you are

Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH covers 2 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the metro one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — which is fine for the 78% in zone 7a and wrong for the other 22%. Here is the actual split.

Zone	ZIP codes	Share
7a	54	78%
6b	15	22%

Zones are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact even though the metro's is not. The hardiness tool will tell you which one you are in.

Your freeze dates

Last spring freeze April 8 – May 2

First fall freeze October 11 – November 1

Those are the earliest and latest medians among the 17 stations serving this metro — not an average, and not one station standing in for the rest. Half of years freeze later than a station's own median.

The spread is the point. Even in a metro that is one hardiness zone throughout, its stations disagree about the last spring freeze. Hardiness zone and frost date measure different things — a zone is the average annual coldest night, a freeze date is when the season turns — and a place can be uniform in one and varied in the other. Use the tools below with your own ZIP rather than the ends of this range.

Your growing season

NOAA publishes a growing-season length for each station, and across the 17 stations serving Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH it runs 160–205 days . That figure is published, not computed from the two freeze dates — subtracting one from the other gives the wrong answer wherever a season crosses New Year. Mean summer high (June–August) runs 81–87 °F , below the 90 °F point where cool-season crops reliably bolt. Summer rain over the same months runs 11.5–15.3" across those 15 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. The middle station covers about 99% of it, so expect to make up the rest. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 85 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.

When to start seeds in Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH

Every spring job for 63 crop dates, counted from this metro's own last spring freeze. Each is a range across all 17 stations — the earliest and latest that job falls anywhere in the metro — because no one station speaks for the whole area.

Crop	Job	When	Offset
Green Onions	Start indoors	February 11 – March 7	8 weeks before
Peppers	Start indoors	February 11 – March 7	8 weeks before
Broccoli	Start indoors	February 25 – March 21	6 weeks before
Cabbage	Start indoors	February 25 – March 21	6 weeks before
Collards	Start indoors	February 25 – March 21	6 weeks before
Kale	Start indoors	February 25 – March 21	6 weeks before
Leaf Lettuce	Start indoors	February 25 – March 21	6 weeks before
Peas	Direct sow	February 25 – March 21	6 weeks before
Spinach	Direct sow	February 25 – March 21	6 weeks before
Sweet Potato	Start indoors	February 25 – March 21	6 weeks before
Tomatoes	Start indoors	February 25 – March 21	6 weeks before
Bok Choy	Start indoors	March 4 – March 28	5 weeks before
Kohlrabi	Start indoors	March 4 – March 28	5 weeks before
Swiss Chard	Start indoors	March 4 – March 28	5 weeks before
Arugula	Direct sow	March 11 – April 4	4 weeks before
Baby Salad Greens	Direct sow	March 11 – April 4	4 weeks before
Beets	Direct sow	March 11 – April 4	4 weeks before
Green Onions	Direct sow	March 11 – April 4	4 weeks before
Mustard Greens	Direct sow	March 11 – April 4	4 weeks before
Okra	Start indoors	March 11 – April 4	4 weeks before
Radishes	Direct sow	March 11 – April 4	4 weeks before
Turnips	Direct sow	March 11 – April 4	4 weeks before
Cabbage	Set out	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Carrots	Direct sow	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Collards	Direct sow	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Collards	Set out	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Cucumbers	Start indoors	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Green Onions	Set out	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Kale	Direct sow	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Kale	Set out	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Kohlrabi	Direct sow	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Kohlrabi	Set out	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Leaf Lettuce	Direct sow	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Pumpkins	Start indoors	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Summer Squash	Start indoors	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Winter Squash	Start indoors	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Zucchini	Start indoors	March 18 – April 11	3 weeks before
Bok Choy	Direct sow	March 25 – April 18	2 weeks before
Bok Choy	Set out	March 25 – April 18	2 weeks before
Broccoli	Set out	March 25 – April 18	2 weeks before
Cilantro	Direct sow	March 25 – April 18	2 weeks before
Leaf Lettuce	Set out	March 25 – April 18	2 weeks before
Swiss Chard	Direct sow	March 25 – April 18	2 weeks before
Swiss Chard	Set out	March 25 – April 18	2 weeks before
Dill	Direct sow	April 1 – April 25	1 week before
Bush Beans	Direct sow	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Cucumbers	Set out	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Pumpkins	Direct sow	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Pumpkins	Set out	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Summer Squash	Direct sow	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Summer Squash	Set out	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Sweet Corn	Direct sow	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Tomatoes	Set out	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Winter Squash	Direct sow	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Winter Squash	Set out	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Zucchini	Direct sow	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Zucchini	Set out	April 15 – May 9	1 week after
Cucumbers	Direct sow	April 22 – May 16	2 weeks after
Okra	Direct sow	April 22 – May 16	2 weeks after
Okra	Set out	April 22 – May 16	2 weeks after
Peppers	Set out	April 22 – May 16	2 weeks after
Southern Peas	Direct sow	April 22 – May 16	2 weeks after
Sweet Potato	Set out	April 22 – May 16	2 weeks after

The week offsets are conventional extension guidance and vary by variety; the freeze dates they are counted from are measured. For a single date rather than a range, run when do I start my seeds? with your own ZIP code.

What survives the winter changes across Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH

Of 74 perennial fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and herbs, 58 come through the winter in zone 7a and only 51 in zone 6b. That is a different garden at each end of the same metro.

Zone	ZIPs	Survive	Fail for being too warm
6b	15	51 of 74	0
7a	54	58 of 74	1

The last column is the counterintuitive one, and it is why the totals do not simply rise as the winters get milder. Most temperate fruit needs a documented number of hours below about 45 °F to break dormancy and set a crop, so an apple fails in a winter that is too warm; currants and rhubarb cook in the summer heat that comes with it. See the full list with reasons.

Cautious — shortens the seasonMedian across stationsOptimistic

Last spring freeze: Plan to May 20 to be careful. Median April 8 – May 2 across 17 stations; March 26 is the optimistic end.
First fall freeze: Plan to October 1 to be careful. Median October 11 – November 1 across 17 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 17 stations behind these numbers

All 17 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 90 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 metro area.

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.

Every figure above comes from these, and each is named so you can check it. Which station serves a given ZIP code, and how far away it is, varies across the metro — the table below gives it per ZIP code rather than this page averaging it.

Station	NOAA ID	Last spring freeze	First fall freeze	Season
Ashland, KY	USC00150254	April 22	October 23	181 days
Charley 2 SW, KY	USC00151517	April 24	October 17	174 days
Dunlow 1 SW, WV	USC00462522	April 13	October 26	197 days
Grayson 2 E, KY	USC00153389	April 27	October 17	172 days
Grayson 3 SW, KY	USC00153391	May 2	October 11	160 days
Hamlin, WV	USC00463846	April 23	October 21	180 days
Hogsett Rc Byrd Dam, WV	USC00464200	April 18	October 29	192 days
Huntington Swg Pl, WV	USC00464397	April 12	October 30	200 days
Huntington Tri State AP, WV	USW00003860	April 14	October 26	195 days
Olive Hill 5Ne, KY	USC00156012	April 24	October 18	174 days
Pea Ridge Psd, WV	USC00466912	April 8	November 1	205 days
Portsmouth-Sciotoville, OH	USC00336781	April 17	October 25	191 days
Saint Albans, WV	USC00467852	April 18	October 26	189 days
Sissonville 1Sw, WV	USC00468191	April 29	October 16	169 days
Warnock 2, KY	USC00158432	April 20	October 22	182 days
Waterloo, OH	USC00338810	April 30	October 15	167 days
Winfield Locks, WV	USC00469683	April 18	October 30	193 days

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

Every ZIP code in Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH

Zones are published per ZIP code, not per metro area, so this is the exact answer rather than the metro area'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
25011	7a	Winfield Locks, WV	7.3 km
25033	7a	Winfield Locks, WV	9.4 km
25070	7a	Winfield Locks, WV	2.5 km
25082	7a	Winfield Locks, WV	13.2 km
25109	7a	Winfield Locks, WV	4.8 km
25124	7a	Sissonville 1Sw, WV	15.5 km
25159	7a	Winfield Locks, WV	11.0 km
25168	7a	Winfield Locks, WV	4.8 km
25213	7a	Winfield Locks, WV	1.7 km
25504	7a	Pea Ridge Psd, WV	5.4 km
25507	7a	Huntington Swg Pl, WV	2.0 km
25510	7a	Hamlin, WV	11.7 km
25511	7a	Dunlow 1 SW, WV	12.9 km
25512	7a	Hamlin, WV	20.2 km
25514	7a	Dunlow 1 SW, WV	17.8 km
25517	7a	Dunlow 1 SW, WV	18.3 km
25520	7a	Hogsett Rc Byrd Dam, WV	14.1 km
25526	7a	Saint Albans, WV	13.8 km
25530	7a	Huntington Tri State AP, WV	2.3 km
25534	7a	Dunlow 1 SW, WV	18.8 km
25535	7a	Huntington Tri State AP, WV	12.2 km
25537	7a	Pea Ridge Psd, WV	12.7 km
25541	7a	Pea Ridge Psd, WV	16.2 km
25545	7a	Pea Ridge Psd, WV	7.6 km
25555	7a	Huntington Tri State AP, WV	16.8 km
25559	7a	Hamlin, WV	11.5 km
25560	7a	Saint Albans, WV	9.1 km
25570	7a	Huntington Tri State AP, WV	20.3 km
25669	7a	Dunlow 1 SW, WV	5.8 km
25699	7a	Dunlow 1 SW, WV	8.9 km
25701	7a	Pea Ridge Psd, WV	11.0 km
25702	7a	Pea Ridge Psd, WV	2.1 km
25703	7a	Huntington Swg Pl, WV	9.7 km
25704	7a	Huntington Tri State AP, WV	8.7 km
25705	7a	Pea Ridge Psd, WV	5.7 km
25755	7a	Huntington Swg Pl, WV	9.0 km
41101	7a	Ashland, KY	4.2 km
41102	6b	Ashland, KY	10.6 km
41121	6b	Grayson 2 E, KY	13.2 km
41124	6b	Charley 2 SW, KY	11.9 km
41129	7a	Huntington Tri State AP, WV	10.1 km
41132	6b	Grayson 2 E, KY	11.4 km
41139	7a	Ashland, KY	12.2 km
41142	6b	Olive Hill 5Ne, KY	7.7 km
41143	6b	Grayson 3 SW, KY	4.8 km
41144	6b	Warnock 2, KY	8.2 km
41146	6b	Grayson 2 E, KY	6.3 km
41159	6b	Charley 2 SW, KY	20.8 km
41164	6b	Olive Hill 5Ne, KY	7.6 km
41168	6b	Grayson 2 E, KY	14.0 km
41169	7a	Ashland, KY	13.9 km
41174	7a	Portsmouth-Sciotoville, OH	11.8 km
41175	6b	Portsmouth-Sciotoville, OH	14.1 km
41180	6b	Grayson 3 SW, KY	17.6 km
41181	6b	Grayson 3 SW, KY	12.8 km
41183	7a	Ashland, KY	15.2 km
41201	6b	Charley 2 SW, KY	11.6 km
41230	7a	Charley 2 SW, KY	13.5 km
41232	7a	Charley 2 SW, KY	2.5 km
41264	7a	Charley 2 SW, KY	6.8 km
45619	7a	Huntington Swg Pl, WV	9.5 km
45638	7a	Ashland, KY	12.5 km
45645	7a	Ashland, KY	14.6 km
45659	7a	Waterloo, OH	15.5 km
45669	7a	Pea Ridge Psd, WV	10.2 km
45678	7a	Waterloo, OH	12.9 km
45680	7a	Ashland, KY	6.0 km
45688	7a	Waterloo, OH	7.0 km
45696	7a	Waterloo, OH	11.2 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.

Your own ZIP

Work out your own dates

Each of these takes a ZIP code and answers for that ZIP alone, citing the station it used and how far away it is. There is a ZIP box in the header of every page.

What survives my winter?
Runs on the hardiness zone, so it answers for all of Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH at once — zone across 74 perennial fruits, berries, vegetables and herbs.
When do I start my seeds?
Dates every spring job from your own last freeze — sow indoors, set out, direct sow.
When do I sow the next round?
How often each crop is worth re-sowing, and when the next sowing is due.
What can I still plant?
Counts the growing days left before your first fall freeze, crop by crop.

Other places to compare

These metros span exactly the same zones — 6b–7a — so the same plants are in and out of range across them. The freeze dates and the spring calendar are their own.

Gardening in West Virginia — zones 5b– 7a covers the whole state: how its 734 ZIP codes divide between 4 hardiness zones, and the freeze dates across every NOAA station in it.

Other metro areas in WV:

Wheeling, WV-OH Zones 6a–6b
Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH Zones 6b–7a
Morgantown, WV Zones 6a–7a
Parkersburg-Vienna, WV Zone 6b
Beckley, WV Zones 6b–7a
Charleston, WV Zones 6b–7a

All 388 metro areas, by state

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 6b, 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

The hardiness zone is the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. The freeze dates are NOAA's 1991–2020 Climate Normals, read from every station whose normals cover a ZIP code in this metro. Nothing here is estimated, and no station stands in for another.

This page names no single station on purpose. Picking one to represent a metro sounds reasonable and is not: the station serving the most ZIP codes is an artifact of where ZIP centroids happen to fall, and it selects a lock on the Monongahela for Pittsburgh and a far southern suburb for Chicago. A range across every station is true; a single cited date for a whole metro is not.

All metro areas