Raritan, NJ 08853 Frost Dates
Raritan, NJ: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/30, about 245 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/20, roughly 172 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 Raritan, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 8 weeks until Raritan's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Raritan's last frost
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/15 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Raritan against the rest of the dataset
Raritan's growing season runs about 172 days, ranking 28,242 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NJ, it ranks 870 of 906.
Learn more
Before leaning on 08853's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Raritan can differ from the 08853 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7a and Raritan's frost date answer different questions.