Barnstable Town, MA 02556 Frost Dates
02556, near Barnstable Town, MA: the frost window
Around 04/11 is the usual last spring frost, about 226 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/11, roughly 213 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 11 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/11 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/31 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/24 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Barnstable Town against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 213 frost-free days, Barnstable Town places 14,438 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MA, it ranks 48 of 712.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 02556: the frost range, on how to read the range around Barnstable Town's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Barnstable Town can differ from the 02556 normal.