Pawtucket, RI 02861 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Pawtucket, RI, ZIP 02861
Around 04/11 is the usual last spring frost, about 226 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/30, about 199 frost-free days later.
Pawtucket sits in USDA Zone 7a (0 to 5°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.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 7a around Pawtucket has about 9 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/11 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/01 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/23 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Pawtucket compares
At roughly 199 frost-free days, Pawtucket places 18,006 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within RI, it ranks 42 of 79.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Pawtucket can differ from the 02861 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7a and Pawtucket's frost date answer different questions.