Tionesta, PA 16239 Frost Dates
16239, near Tionesta, PA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/06, roughly 251 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/14, roughly 160 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Tionesta 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
Tionesta'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
05/06 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/19 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/23 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Tionesta against the rest of the dataset
About 160 days separate Tionesta's last and first frost, putting it 32,496 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within PA, it ranks 1,718 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 16239: local microclimates, on what one yard in Tionesta can differ from the 16239 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Tionesta's frost date answer different questions.