Northampton, MA 01096 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Northampton, MA, ZIP 01096
Around 05/13 is the usual last spring frost, about 258 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/02, about 144 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Northampton in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 6a around Northampton has about 5 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
Why 05/13 isn't a guarantee
05/13 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/29 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/26 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Northampton compares
At roughly 144 frost-free days, Northampton places 36,337 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MA, it ranks 694 of 712.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Northampton's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Northampton's dates instead of trusting one.