FrostDateCheck

Mapleton, PA 16654 Frost Dates

16654, near Mapleton, PA: the frost window

Zone 7a

The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/23, about 238 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/21, roughly 177 days after the last spring frost.

Zone 7a (0 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 Mapleton, not a forecast for this year.

Stretching the season past the first frost

Mapleton's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

Why 04/23 isn't a guarantee

04/23 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/08 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Mapleton against the rest of the dataset

At roughly 177 frost-free days, Mapleton places 26,239 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within PA, it ranks 985 of 2,088.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 16654: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Mapleton's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Mapleton's dates instead of trusting one.