Frost dates
Frost in Yorkshire
What the stations recorded, 1996 to 2025
- Sheffield (131 m): 1.3 air frost days on average in April and 0.1 in May; 0.2 in October and 2.3 in November. April is the last spring month averaging half a frosty day or more, and November the first autumn one. About 26 frosty days a year.
- Bradford (134 m): 2.5 air frost days on average in April and 0.3 in May; 0.5 in October and 4.0 in November. April is the last spring month averaging half a frosty day or more, and October the first autumn one. About 36 frosty days a year.
- Whitby (60 m): 2.0 air frost days on average in April and 0.4 in May; 0.2 in October and 2.0 in November. April is the last spring month averaging half a frosty day or more, and November the first autumn one. About 27 frosty days a year.
Three Met Office stations show how varied Yorkshire is: Sheffield in the city, Bradford on higher ground at 134 m, and Whitby on the coast.
Your own garden
A station is one spot. Add your postcode for your area's average last and first frost.
Month by month
| Station | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheffield | 6.8 | 6.2 | 3.6 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 5.7 |
| Bradford | 8.7 | 7.4 | 4.9 | 2.5 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 4.0 | 7.9 |
| Whitby | 6.5 | 5.9 | 4.1 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 6.2 |
What this means for sowing and planting
Bradford averages roughly twice Sheffield's April frosts, at a similar height, and more frosty days a year. Whitby on the coast sits between them in spring and has fewer autumn frosts than Bradford. So the same Yorkshire planting date can be safe in one garden and early in another.
May frosts are rare at all three stations but not unknown, so tender crops go out safest from late May or June, with a look at the forecast first.
Local things that change it
City warmth
Sheffield’s station is in the city, which tends to hold more warmth overnight than open country.The Dales and moors
Upland gardens sit far higher than any of these stations and are colder.Whitby moved
Whitby’s station changed site at the end of 1999, so its first few years in this average are from the old site.Your garden
Use the postcode look-up above for your own area’s typical last frost, and how late one runs in 1 year in 10.
What we can and can't tell you
Stations, not your garden
These are thermometer readings at a handful of Met Office sites, averaged over thirty years. They show how the region behaves, not what your garden will do this spring. A frosty day count isn't a last-frost date, and a ground frost can come on a night the station records none. For your area's typical last frost and how late one can come, use the postcode look-up above.
Keep going
Where this comes from
Crop windows, growing times and plant families come from Vercro's own curated crop catalogue, the same data the Vercro app uses. Where a published source says something different, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.
- Historic station data (monthly air frost days, 1996 to 2025), Met Office, Open Government Licence v3.0. Read 19 September 2026.
- A touch of frost: types of frost, Royal Meteorological Society. Read 19 September 2026.
Vercro reads your garden's own frost dates
Add your garden's postcode and Vercro uses its frost dates to say whether a sowing will finish in time, and its forecast to shape the jobs it shows on Today.