Snow Shoe, PA 16839 Frost Dates
16839, near Snow Shoe, PA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/13, roughly 258 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 142 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Snow Shoe 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
Snow Shoe's growing season runs out in roughly 5 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
05/13 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/25 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/29 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Snow Shoe against the rest of the dataset
Snow Shoe's growing season runs about 142 days, ranking 36,784 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within PA, it ranks 1,951 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 16839: the frost range, on how to read the range around Snow Shoe's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Snow Shoe can differ from the 16839 normal.