Rockaway, NJ 07866 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Rockaway, NJ?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/17, roughly 232 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/23, about 189 frost-free days later.
Rockaway sits in USDA Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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 8 weeks of growing season left in Rockaway before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Rockaway's last frost
04/17 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/04 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/05 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Rockaway compares
Rockaway's growing season runs about 189 days, ranking 21,512 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NJ, it ranks 634 of 906.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6b and Rockaway's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Rockaway's dates instead of trusting one.