Smicksburg, PA 16256 Frost Dates
16256, near Smicksburg, PA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/10, about 255 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 155 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 6a (-10 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 Smicksburg, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Smicksburg'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.
Smicksburg against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 155 frost-free days, Smicksburg places 34,193 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within PA, it ranks 1,859 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 16256: local microclimates, on what one yard in Smicksburg can differ from the 16256 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Smicksburg's frost date answer different questions.