Snow Shoe, PA 16871 Frost Dates
16871, near Snow Shoe, PA: the frost window
Around 04/29 is the usual last spring frost, about 244 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/21, roughly 177 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 8 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
04/29 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/15 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Snow Shoe against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 177 frost-free days, Snow Shoe places 26,211 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within PA, it ranks 974 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 16871: local microclimates, on what one yard in Snow Shoe can differ from the 16871 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Snow Shoe's frost date answer different questions.