Rutherford, NJ 07071 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Rutherford, NJ?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/04, about 219 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/06, about 216 frost-free days later.
Rutherford sits in USDA Zone 7b (5 to 10°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
About 10 weeks of growing season left in Rutherford before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Rutherford's last frost
04/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/23 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/16 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Rutherford compares
At roughly 216 frost-free days, Rutherford places 13,739 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NJ, it ranks 289 of 906.
Learn more
the frost range covers how to read the range around Rutherford's dates instead of trusting one. local microclimates covers what one yard in Rutherford can differ from the 07071 normal.