Butler, PA 16001 Frost Dates
16001, near Butler, PA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/16, roughly 231 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/02, roughly 199 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Butler in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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
Butler's growing season runs out in roughly 9 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
04/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/31 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/02 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Butler against the rest of the dataset
Butler's growing season runs about 199 days, ranking 18,053 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within PA, it ranks 282 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 16001: local microclimates, on what one yard in Butler can differ from the 16001 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Butler's frost date answer different questions.