Framingham, MA 01721 Frost Dates
01721, near Framingham, MA: the frost window
Around 04/26 is the usual last spring frost, about 241 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Framingham in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
Framingham'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.
The actual range around Framingham's last frost
04/26 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 05/09 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Framingham against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 169 frost-free days, Framingham places 29,297 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MA, it ranks 341 of 712.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 01721: local microclimates, on what one yard in Framingham can differ from the 01721 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Framingham's frost date answer different questions.