Rural Valley, PA 16249 Frost Dates
16249, near Rural Valley, PA: the frost window
Around 05/10 is the usual last spring frost, about 255 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 155 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Rural Valley 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
Rural Valley's growing season runs out in roughly 6 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
05/10 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/28 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Rural Valley against the rest of the dataset
Rural Valley's growing season runs about 155 days, ranking 34,053 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within PA, it ranks 1,801 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 16249: local microclimates, on what one yard in Rural Valley can differ from the 16249 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Rural Valley's frost date answer different questions.