Northampton, MA 01062 Frost Dates
Northampton, MA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/02, roughly 247 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/09, roughly 160 days after the last spring frost.
Northampton 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
With roughly 6 weeks until Northampton's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 05/02 isn't a guarantee
05/02 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/21 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Northampton against the rest of the dataset
Northampton's growing season runs about 160 days, ranking 32,242 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MA, it ranks 530 of 712.
Learn more
Before leaning on 01062's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Northampton can differ from the 01062 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Northampton's frost date answer different questions.