Lititz, PA 17543 Frost Dates
17543, near Lititz, PA: the frost window
Around 04/18 is the usual last spring frost, about 233 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/25, roughly 186 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Lititz 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
Lititz'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
04/18 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/04 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/05 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Lititz against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 186 frost-free days, Lititz places 22,753 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within PA, it ranks 643 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 17543: local microclimates, on what one yard in Lititz can differ from the 17543 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Lititz's frost date answer different questions.