Barnstable Town, MA 02534 Frost Dates
02534, near Barnstable Town, MA: the frost window
Around 04/21 is the usual last spring frost, about 236 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/24, roughly 186 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Barnstable Town in Zone 7a (0 to 5°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
Barnstable Town'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 04/21 isn't a guarantee
04/21 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/07 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.
Barnstable Town against the rest of the dataset
Barnstable Town's growing season runs about 186 days, ranking 22,706 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MA, it ranks 159 of 712.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 02534: local microclimates, on what one yard in Barnstable Town can differ from the 02534 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Barnstable Town's frost date answer different questions.