Shade Gap, PA 17255 Frost Dates
17255, near Shade Gap, PA: the frost window
Around 04/23 is the usual last spring frost, about 238 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 Shade Gap in Zone 7a (0 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
Shade Gap'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.
Shade Gap against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 177 frost-free days, Shade Gap places 26,309 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within PA, it ranks 1,014 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 17255: the frost range, on how to read the range around Shade Gap's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Shade Gap can differ from the 17255 normal.