Newton, MA 02468 Frost Dates
02468, near Newton, MA: the frost window
Around 04/19 is the usual last spring frost, about 234 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/23, roughly 185 days after the last spring frost.
Newton sits in USDA Zone 6b (-5 to 0°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Newton's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/19 isn't a guarantee
04/19 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/06 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/03 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Newton against the rest of the dataset
Newton's growing season runs about 185 days, ranking 23,043 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MA, it ranks 190 of 712.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 02468: local microclimates, on what one yard in Newton can differ from the 02468 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Newton's frost date answer different questions.