Shamokin, PA 17866 Frost Dates
17866, near Shamokin, PA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/27, roughly 242 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/20, roughly 172 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Shamokin in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
Shamokin'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 04/27 isn't a guarantee
04/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Shamokin against the rest of the dataset
Shamokin's growing season runs about 172 days, ranking 28,257 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within PA, it ranks 1,344 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 17866: the frost range, on how to read the range around Shamokin's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Shamokin can differ from the 17866 normal.