Watchung, NJ 07069 Frost Dates
Watchung, NJ: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/11, about 226 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/31, roughly 202 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7a (0 to 5°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 Watchung, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 9 weeks until Watchung's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 04/11 isn't a guarantee
04/11 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/30 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/28 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Watchung against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 202 frost-free days, Watchung places 17,222 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NJ, it ranks 415 of 906.
Learn more
Before leaning on 07069's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Watchung can differ from the 07069 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7a and Watchung's frost date answer different questions.