FrostDateCheck

Greenfield, MA 01342 Frost Dates

01342, near Greenfield, MA: the frost window

Zone 6a

Around 05/01 is the usual last spring frost, about 246 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/11, roughly 162 days after the last spring frost.

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Greenfield in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.

Stretching the season past the first frost

Greenfield's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

Why 05/01 isn't a guarantee

05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/19 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Greenfield against the rest of the dataset

About 162 days separate Greenfield's last and first frost, putting it 31,657 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MA, it ranks 479 of 712.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 01342: the frost range, on how to read the range around Greenfield's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Greenfield can differ from the 01342 normal.