Melrose, MA 02180 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Melrose, MA?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/25, about 240 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/17, about 174 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 Melrose, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 7 weeks of growing season left in Melrose before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Melrose's last frost
04/25 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/13 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/08 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Melrose compares
About 174 days separate Melrose's last and first frost, putting it 27,345 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MA, it ranks 314 of 712.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6b and Melrose's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Melrose's dates instead of trusting one.