Erie, PA 16503 Frost Dates
16503, near Erie, PA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/26, roughly 241 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/04, roughly 192 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Erie in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
Erie's growing season runs out in roughly 10 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/26 isn't a guarantee
04/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/10 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/13 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Erie against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 192 frost-free days, Erie places 20,101 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within PA, it ranks 506 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 16503: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Erie's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Erie's dates instead of trusting one.