Chester, NJ 07930 Frost Dates
07930, near Chester, NJ: the frost window
Around 04/26 is the usual last spring frost, about 241 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/18, roughly 176 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Chester in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
Chester's growing season runs out in roughly 7 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
04/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/11 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/13 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Chester against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 176 frost-free days, Chester places 26,501 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NJ, it ranks 799 of 906.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 07930: the frost range, on how to read the range around Chester's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Chester can differ from the 07930 normal.