Peabody, MA 01940 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Peabody, MA?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/03, roughly 248 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/09, about 157 frost-free days later.
Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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 Peabody, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 6 weeks of growing season left in Peabody before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/20 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/20 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Peabody compares
At roughly 157 frost-free days, Peabody places 33,207 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MA, it ranks 587 of 712.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6b and Peabody's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Peabody's dates instead of trusting one.