Springfield, MA 01036 Frost Dates
01036, near Springfield, MA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/28, about 243 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/15, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.
Springfield sits in USDA Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Springfield's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/14 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/17 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Springfield against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 169 frost-free days, Springfield places 29,282 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MA, it ranks 331 of 712.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 01036: the frost range, on how to read the range around Springfield's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Springfield can differ from the 01036 normal.