Lowell, MA 01879 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Lowell, MA, ZIP 01879
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/30, roughly 245 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/10, about 164 frost-free days later.
Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Lowell, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 6a around Lowell has about 6 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.
The actual range around Lowell's last frost
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/19 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/10 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Lowell compares
About 164 days separate Lowell's last and first frost, putting it 30,810 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MA, it ranks 415 of 712.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Lowell can differ from the 01879 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Lowell's frost date answer different questions.